


The Venom Saga

by shadowgirl69



Category: Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Porn with Feelings, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2019-08-21 16:02:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 43,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16579709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowgirl69/pseuds/shadowgirl69
Summary: Ok, let me start off by saying that I am obsessed with the new Venom with Tom Hardy (huba huba). I got the idea from a quizz regarding which symbiote would be right for me and then I thought why not? Hybrid was not in the original movie, but in this version of fanfiction he is.NOTE: Sex in later chapters, might change the rating later on when it comes down to it





	1. Prologue

Prologue

The life forms knew they were in trouble. They had been travelling on their comet, looking for another world to see if they could inhabit.   
Suddenly, out of nowhere, something had grabbed them and had stuffed them into glass containers, where they had no room to breathe or even stretch out. There was no way of escaping from their glass prison. The four of them had been taken back to Earth to await their fate.   
Disgusted and wanting to help the others as well, little known to the humans that had taken his symbiote brothers, the fifth symbiote had managed to escape the humans by blending in with their ship material so it wouldn’t be detected. He watched in horror as his four brothers and sisters were snatched up by – what he come to recognize as humans in spacesuits- and stuffed into glass containers. He wanted to help, but being frozen in fear, he could do nothing more than watch.   
As the symbiotes and the humans climbed aboard the ship, the remaining symbiote released itself and hid itself just in time as the rocket took off to Earth. By the time the rocket reached the atmosphere, the symbiote managed to rip off one of the rockets attached to the ship. As the rocket, along with the symbiote crashed to earth, it sadly watched the ship go off in different directions.  
It felt sad, not knowing the fate of its brothers and sisters, but he made a vow that he would find his brothers and sisters. Not only that, the symbiote would make absolute sure that it would carry out their mission that they all had agreed on, bring back the others and take over the new world that they had crashed on.


	2. First night in San Fransisco

Chapter 1

The sun had long since set when Jane Sullivan awoke from a deep sleep. She was feeling cold and at first, had no idea where she was. She glanced up, glancing around the room, trying to get an idea of where she was. At first, besides the bare king-sized mattress, there was hardly any furniture in the room and none of her personal belongs were there. There was nothing about the room that said ‘home’.  
She glanced at the open window to find the city glowing with lights and she instantly knew where she was. San Francisco. She picked up her phone and saw it was a little after nine in the evening. No wonder it was so late in the day, she had slept all day and well into the evening. “That’s the last time I ever fly overnight,” she said as she got to her feet and stretched.  
Earlier that morning, she had landed in San Francisco at four in the morning. It hadn’t been the most relaxing flight, but when she arrived, she felt better knowing that she had arrived at her destination rather than spending another four hours waiting for a delayed plane that may or may not arrive. From there she took a taxi to her new apartment and unpacked.  
It was a little after eight in the morning by the time she finished unpacking. By the time she finished, she was too tired to do anything else. She then collapsed on the mattress without even bothering to put her new sheets or blankets on the bed.   
She got up, pushing a lock of her elbow length dark brown hair out of her face, and went to the kitchen to find something to eat, only to find that she didn’t have much besides a cold Starbucks coffee and a packet of crackers and peanuts from her flight.   
Guess it was time to get some food, plus she did need some caffeine. She took out the Starbucks mug, wrinkling her nose a little at the flavour. The ice had definitely deluded the flavour, but it was better than nothing. Besides, she needed the extra caffeine to wake up. She took another sip, but the flavour was so bad that it was no longer drinkable. She tossed it into the garbage without another thought.  
She took out her phone and found the convenience store that was open 24 hours as well as a nearby McDonalds. First things first, she thought as she headed back to the bedroom to change out of her clothes from earlier. Some food and then get the essentials. She quickly changed into her jeans, a dark blue shirt and her leather jacket. She wiped under her eyes from where her mascara had smudged while she was asleep and added some foundation to cover up the dark circles under her eyes.   
She checked over her appearance, her straight, elbow-length dark brown hair was still okay so all she had to do was run a brush through her hair. Her emerald eyes that were slightly bloodshot before was now clear. At least I don’t look like I’ve been smoking weed, she thought.   
She picked up her bag, but before she left the apartment she quickly booted up her laptop to see if she had any new emails.   
Nothing.  
She quickly logged onto her hacker program, Webster Serpent, to check if there had been any new assignments for her. Once again, there was nothing. She checked her hacker program, but it was empty. Nothing had been uploaded yet. She shook her head. She had been hoping for something yet, her contact and source at the Life Foundation told her she would attempt it later tonight when everyone had left. Maybe there were still people around or something had come up which made everyone stay late.  
She created an alert on the program as well as her email for her contact, if the name came into her email, it would send out an alert like a text message to let her know if there was any new activity, even if she wasn’t anywhere near her computer.  
She logged out of Webster Serpent but left the computer on standby before she left the apartment.   
San Francisco was a beautiful place, but there were a lot more steep hills than she was used to. It made her miss the flat little plains of her home town in Canada. On the plus side it was a little warmer, especially now that it was January. It didn’t take long for Jane to reach the McDonald’s restaurant, but just as she was rounding the corner, she spotted a homeless woman, crouched on top of a flattened cardboard box, curled up with blankets and a clumsy hand written sign asking people for spare change.  
The sight of the homeless woman gave Jane a small pinch inside of sadness inside her chest. She hated seeing people like this, when they were reduced to nothing and nobody even bothered to help them, people just walking by, going on about their business and not bothering to help them or even glance their way.  
Jane then made a decision; she went inside the restaurant, ordered some food and came outside with two bags and a tray with two mugs of hot chocolate. She handed out one of the bags and the cups to the homeless woman. “I thought you could have something warm in your stomach for this time of year,” said Jane as the woman stared wide eyed at her. The woman seemed to hesitate, but upon seeing the bag that contained hot food, she accepted. “Thank you,” she said in a somewhat shaky voice. “But why-“  
“I just wanted to make someone’s day a little brighter,” said Jane. “Plus I know what it’s like to be where you are.” The woman smiled a toothless smile at her. “You’re very sweet dear,” she said. “I really appreciate it.”   
“Not a problem,” said Jane. She smiled at the woman. “I’ll see you later okay?” She walked away, sipping on her hot chocolate as she went, grateful that she had something warm to drink on this cold night. Along the way she ate her food, trying to savour the flavour and warmth.   
As she walked away, she felt a creeping chill right behind her. She turned back, but upon finding no one there she continued on, although the creeping chill didn’t go away. It was just when she was turning the corner when she heard loud raucous laughter, followed by the noise of shattering bottles.  
She felt her stomach clench, she was hoping that she wouldn’t have come across people like this. Not only that she forgot her Taser at her apartment but also her can of pepper spray was still on the counter at home. How could she have been so stupid not to have grabbed it before she left? She grabbed her keys, just in case she needed to use it as a weapon.   
She gathered what little courage she had and walked around the door, keeping her head down and doing her best not to draw attention to herself.   
Unfortunately, her efforts were wasted. She was just rounding the corner and had managed to pass them, who they seem to be minding their own business when one of them spotted her. “Well, well. What have we here?”  
Oh crap.   
She tried to ignore them but it wasn’t until she heard footsteps behind her and then a hand suddenly grab her arm, did she turn around. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see who her attackers were because they were shinning a flashlight right in her eyes, blinding her. She raised her hand in an attempt to cover her eyes, at the same time stepping back, trying to put some space between her and whoever had hold of her. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye, as she saw someone was approaching behind her. She knew exactly what was going on, she was surrounded by the men. There were four of them, as far as she could see. “Well, well. What have we were?”  
“Hey, Donnie, maybe she’s here to party with us?”  
“Yeah! Hey, girlie, you gonna give us a show?”   
“Hell no!” snarled Jane, clutching the keys in her hand so tight she felt the ring digging into her hand. She felt someone trying to grab her messenger bag, which made her spring into action. She spun around, using her keys as brass knuckles and didn’t hesitate for a millisecond before, with a moment as swift as a lizard, and she slashed a deep wound into his cheek. He went flailing at the air as Jane turned around, pivoting on her heel to kick one in the chest. She felt a satisfying crunch as she heard him fall backwards.  
She took another step and lashed out with her fist, this time feeling a nose five way under her knuckles. She heard a howl of pain, which made Jane smile in satisfaction. She heard footsteps behind her, but before she could turn around she felt something hard cracked her in the back of the head.  
She let out a cry of pain as she raised her hands to her head. She felt someone kick her in the ribs, where she left out a cry of pain. She tried to let out a kick, but her assailant caught her leg and was able to knock her over. “You stupid bitch! You broke my fucking nose!”   
“You deserve it you asshole!” snarled Jane. Unfortunately it was the wrong thing to say, the next thing she knew, she felt a piercing pain as she felt a switchblade cut her left arm, tearing her leather jacket in the process. Jane let out a scream of pain. She tried to lash out a kick, trying to take out whoever was closer to her, but whoever was around her, jumped out of the way. “Aren’t you a feisty one,” growled a voice. She felt a hand on her throat as she felt a cold blade touch her throat. She squeezed her eyes, shut hardly daring to look, for fear if she did the end would come a lot quicker. “You’ll be lot of – GHK!”  
She then heard the sound of a collapsing body. “Ma’am?” she heard someone ask, as she felt a warm hand on her cheek. She opened her eyes and found – she must have passed out and begun dreaming. There was no way this guy could be real. Dark hair, baby blue eyes, a strong face and, from what she could see from her view on the ground, a rather athletic body as though he had spent several hours at the gym.   
She blinked. “Y-Yeah,” she said, sitting up before placing a hand on her forehead. “Ow.” The pain in her head was bad, she felt like she had a migraine. She felt something hot and wet running down her arm. The stranger reached out and grasped her left arm and saw the wound she had gotten from the switchblade.   
He must have seen the blood running down her arm, because he offered a hand. “Let’s get you to the emergency room,” said the guy, helping her up and putting an arm around her.  
“Thank you,” she said. “I’m fine really.”  
“That blood on your arm says otherwise,” said the stranger. “Plus you looked like you got a few hits here and there.” He looked at her sideways. “On the other hand, where did you learn to fight like that? You look like you took self defense lessons.”   
Jane sighed. “I took karate when I was ten years old. Unfortunately I had to quit when I turned fifteen.”  
“How come?”  
“My sensei had to focus on his studies. He told us that there would be no more karate after we graduated from our blue belts.”   
“Wow five years? That’s impressive.” He looked impressed. “Did that also involve using your keys as brass knockers as part of your training?”   
“Well it comes from experience,” she said. “Plus I read about it in a book. The character was about to be attacked when she used her keys as brass knockers. The guy that was going to attack her got a really terrible injury. Hit him in the cheek. It said he was bleeding like a pig.”   
They had arrived at the emergency room, which thankfully was empty. They were able to get into a room, after explaining to the nurse that Jane was assaulted and that the stranger, Eddie Brock, happened to get to her just in time before anything else could be done. They were then escorted to a hospital room, stripping off her leather jacket and lay on the bed.  
The doctor came in and checked on her head injury to make sure she was all clear and got her head x-rayed to make sure she didn’t have a concussion. Other than a bump on the head, she didn’t have any other injuries. Then when it came time to get her wound stitched up, Jane almost passed out when they had to give her anesthetic to numb the area.   
Thankfully, Eddie had been there and was able to catch her before she fell off the bed. “You alright?” he asked. “I’m fine,” she said. “I just wasn’t expecting the needle that’s all.” It was a second before she added, “I don’t like needles. They make me faint.”  
Eddie chuckled before putting a hand on her cheek. “Isn’t that why I’m here? Distract you from the little needle?” Jane felt her cheeks burn and her heard rate pick up, although it didn’t go unnoticed by Eddie or by the doctor as he was preparing her arm for the stiches.   
Eddie grinned as he wrapped his arm around her. “You two seem like a really good couple,” he said. This brought Eddie up short. “Oh, we’re not really dating,” he said. “We just met earlier tonight,” added Jane, wincing when the doctor began stitching. “We weren’t dating or anything. We just – met” The stitches didn’t hurt thanks to the anesthesia, but the feeling of her skin being tugged on felt funny without there being any pain.  
The doctor looked surprised. “Oh, well, um – pardon me then.” He resumed stitching, probably embarrassed at his earlier comment. “So where are you from?” asked Eddie. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”  
“I’m from Canada actually and I just got here earlier this morning. My flight got delayed for six hours. I was supposed to be leaving at 5 o clock last night. I didn’t leave until midnight, so I didn’t get here until four this morning.” She broke off as the doctor finished the last stitch before he got up and went to grab some gauze from the cupboard.  
“What made you come down here?” he asked. “I got accepted temporary job for about six months. Maybe longer, we’ll see how it goes,” she said as she broke away from Eddie’s gaze to look down at the doctor, who was now applying a gauze pad to her wound. “Plus I’m looking for someone. It’s kind of personal.”   
She felt a hand touch hers, she looked around and found Eddie holding her hand, at the same time she felt an electric current going through her as though he had physically shocked her. “It’s okay,” he said. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” She hesitated, trying to process his words before she smiled and gently squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”  
“Alright there Ms. Sullivan,” said the doctor. “You’re good to go.” He then have her some discharge instructions on how to take care of the stitches as well as her head injury, but she might as well have thrown it in the garbage for all the good it did. No need for it once I have my friend back, she thought as she and Eddie left the hospital.  
“How come you refused the pain medication?” he asked. “Surely you would want some to make you feel better?”   
“I have a high pain tolerance,” she said. “I’ve dealt with a broken arm for three hours before I got to a hospital. A broken arm hurts a lot worse than this.” She raised her left arm, where her sleeve was a little more bulky due to the bandage. “Trust me this felt more of a papercut than a broken bone. I don’t remember much of that night, I just was playing rough with my brother then I hit the wall wrong and I just felt this pain go up my arm. Thankfully my parents got to the emergency room and they got me patched up. I passed out not long after we got into the hospital. I didn’t even feel it when they put in the IV and re-broke my arm before casting it.”   
“What were you doing that you broke your arm?” he asked. “We were playing hockey in the garage,” she said. “He sort of body checked me, I hit the wall a little too hard and the next thing I knew I heard a loud crack. It was then that I started screaming from the pain. Since then I’ve always been a little bit more careful about I do. I mean I do still play, but I’m just more careful to make sure I don’t hurt myself. I’m just thankful I injured my left hand rather than right hand.”  
“You’re a tough girl,” he said. “I mean you did show it to me back there. I mean you were able to defend yourself and you got stitched up without shedding a tear.” “Thank you,” she said. “I really mean that. I guess I should say I owe you one.” He shook his head. “You don’t owe me anything,” he said. “I’m just glad I was there to help.” He hesitated. “Although maybe if you wanted to go for coffee.”  
“Sure, coffee sounds good,” she said. “I thought you had to work?”   
“I told them I would need a few days to get unpacked and settled in. I start on Thursday. I should be able to see you before then.”  
“Sounds good.”  
They had reached Jane’s apartment, but Jane made no move to go inside. “Thank you again,” she said. “I really appreciate it. You don’t know how grateful I am that you were there.”  
He reached out and placed a hand on her cheek, once again that electric current went between them, although it was stronger than before it had been in the hospital.   
“Hard to believe you’re from Canada. I would have thought you were from New York… you’re so tough.”  
“I can be nice, just don’t make me mad.”   
“How nice?”  
He reached out to tuck some hair behind her left ear, before leaning in to press his forehead against hers. Jane opened her mouth to say something, but couldn’t due to the electric current that was now pulsing its way through her like it was a living organism and her heart rate was picking up to the point she thought she was going to have a heart attack.  
On the other hand, she felt her body freeze when he moved into her personal space as her stunned brain that was trying to figure out on what to do. There was a part of her that didn’t like the fact of how close he is with her, but then there was another part of her that wasn’t close enough.   
He was waiting for a response, she smiled. “Sorry,” she said, smiling and feeling somewhat embarrassed. “You’re making me nervous.”  
“Nervous about what?”  
“Probably what I’m thinking of doing right now.”  
“Would that be this?” He then leaned in to brush his lips over hers. She froze, at first unable to believe this was happening before she relaxed. The kiss was all heat and hunger with longing, it had been a while since she had been kissed, but there had never been any feeling like this when she had kissed her ex-boyfriends. She felt his hands wrap around her, pulling her close to him, before they rested at the small of her back. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. She could taste a faint flavor of beer on his mouth, but it wasn’t overpowering. She could even smell a musky smell that drove her even more into the kiss.   
They pulled away for air, both of them feeling breathless from their make out session. “Been wanting to do that since I seen you,” he said. “I- I just don’t know how to explain it, but I didn’t want to push it.” “So, you’re not looking for a one night thing?” asked Jane, breathing deeply to get as much needed air back into her lungs.   
In answer he smiled. “No,” he said. “I just come out a bad break up a few months ago, so I want to take things slow this time. I not quite ready to take that step with anyone yet, I just don’t want some short fling.”  
She put a hand on his cheek. “I understand,” she said. “I’m not looking for anything like that either. I’m looking for something that wants to last and something that’s concrete, not just about meaningless sex. My last two boyfriends wanted to have sex with me but I turned them down.”   
“Tough and smart,” he said. “I like that about a girl.” They were just about kiss again when an alarm went out, making the two jump apart. “What was-“  
“Jeez that’s my cell phone,” said Jane, pulling out her cell phone. She saw two notifications from Webster Servant 

 

ITEM ADDED: LIFE FOUNDATION

 

Available on Chat: Dora Skirth

 

Crap, thought Jane. Dora’s going to kill me. She looked up at Eddie, giving him an apologetic look at Eddie. “I’m sorry it’s work,” she said. She held out her hand. “I’ll give you my number that way I can text you.” She quickly punched her cell phone number into his phone before he gave his, gave him a quick kiss good night before she went upstairs to the apartment.  
By the time she got to her apartment, her computer was positively shrieking at her and blinking with the serpent logo as though it were having a seizure. “Alright, alright, I’m here,” she said to the computer. She hit the space bar which turned off the alert. She quickly logged into her computer to find that Dora was still on the chat.

 

Dora: Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you for an hour!  
Lisbeth: Sorry, something came up. I almost got mugged but I slipped away.  
Dora: Oh my god, you weren’t hurt were you?   
Lisbeth: No I wasn’t hurt, thankfully I was rescued. Got away with a few scrapes and bruises, but other than that I’m fine. So what’s up?  
Dora: I was able to get that program uploaded. You were right, it wasn’t that hard. Didn’t need a password.  
Lisbeth: I’ll send you compliments to Anton. I helped him write the program. We tried to make it a program that doesn’t require logging into the computer.  
Dora: You got that information already  
Lisbeth: Yep got it. It’ll be a bit before I can access the network  
Dora: How long?  
Lisbeth: Maybe two days, depending on how much stuff he has on his hard drive. Once that’s done, I’ll have my other program find as much evidence as we can. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.  
Dora: Excellent!   
Lisbeth: What do you plan on doing with the information?  
Dora: The world needs to know the truth about Carlton Drake. He’s…..  
Lisbeth: an evil son of a bitch?  
Dora: he’s messed up alright and he’s definitely an evil son of a bitch. I thought we were making the world a difference, but he wants to create a whole new species of some kind.  
Lisbeth: Oh my god! The sooner we get this guy exposed the better! I still have those scars when he took the package away from me. Believe me I want nothing more than to give him the same treatment he did to me when he stole the package. Does he want to do the same thing with the package too?  
Dora: That’s exactly what he’s doing! He’s been doing that with the package, and right now – he – it’s a he right?  
Lisbeth: Yes it’s definitely a he, anyways go on  
Dora: Drake’s been trying to make the package bond with other test subjects (homeless people that are volunteers), but the package has been refusing each test subject, sometimes he’s killing them. He’s even lashed out at the test subject after he’s killed them  
Lisbeth: I think he’s trying to send a message. ‘Bring me back to my host’. How has he been doing?  
Dora: He misses you. He lets out this cry every night every time I leave for work. It’s kind of heartbreaking.  
Lisbeth: Damn it Dora, don’t make me cry. How soon can we get him out?  
Dora: Tonight if you really want to. Are you up for it?  
Lisbeth: Hell yeah, let’s get him out. I don’t want him to spend another minute in that hell hole.   
Dora: Excellent! I knew you were going to say that! Can you meet me in front of City Hall? What will you be wearing?  
Lisbeth: I’ll be wearing a black wig and carrying a black messenger bag. Ask for Veronica. I’ll be there in half an hour; hopefully my injury doesn’t slow me down  
Dora: Roger that!   
Dora has disconnected from the chat. 

Jane smiled as she logged off the program. “Hold on there Hybrid,” she said. “I’m coming for you.”


	3. Rescue

Chapter 2

Forty minutes later, Jane and Dora were driving to the Life Foundation building. Jane felt as though she were a spy that was about to infiltrate the bad guys secret base the way she was dressed, she was wearing tight fitting black pants, a black t-shirt, black sneakers, a new black leather jacket and a shoulder-length black haired wig. She even put in brown contact lenses and red lip stick to alter her appearance. She didn’t want anyone to recognize her, not even that slimebag Carlton Drake.

“What’s the plan for when we get there?” asked Jane. “You’re my personal assistant and you wanted to make sure that my schedule for tomorrow was organized,” explained Dora. “The reason why we’re coming in is because you have a fear of crowds and don’t like talking to strangers. Its better that we make you my assistance rather than Drake’s because the staff know of his assistant. I just don’t want there to be any more awkward questions than there needs to be.”

“That’s a really good explanation,” said Jane. “Hold on a second.” She reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a pair of glasses, a Bluetooth earpiece which she clipped to her ear and a notebook with a pen. “How do I look?” she asked. Donna sneaked a glance her way. “Now you look like a personal assistant,” she said with a smile. “It’s so hard to believe that you’re a hacker. I wouldn’t have expected it from someone like you. You look so – average. I was expecting someone with facial piercings and tattoos all over their body.”

“We hackers come in all shapes and sizes,” said Jane. “Plus, you got one that does some running around here too. There’s not many of us that can do that. Normally some of them have to hire other people just to find the computer and load up the program. But you must have known that when you read my file, otherwise you wouldn’t have hired me for this job.”

“I even read in your file that you only take on special cases that interest you,” said Dora. “Would this count as one that interests you?”

“This one is a special exception,” Jane said. “This one is a personal one, plus Drake stole Hybrid away from me.” Jane rubbed under her eyes, where a bit of her make up rubbed off to show the dark circles that had formed under her eyes. “I haven’t been sleeping since Hybrid was taken from me,” explained Jane. “I kept having nightmares of Hybrid dying or being tortured by Drake. He even tortured me after Hybrid was separated from me. I haven’t been able to get a proper good night’s sleep in a month. It’s taken a toll on me;”

“All because of Hybrid?” asked Dora. “Hybrid’s part of it,” said Jane. “But then there’s Drake. He found out about Hybrid being attached to me, so he separated Hybrid from me and carved me with his initials. As if to prove I was something that belonged to him. We weren’t even together that long when I found out he was an absolutely insane psychopath.” She pulled the shirt over to reveal two large letters that were carved on top of her left breast, just over the place where her heart that was still beating. **C.D.**

Dora almost stomped on the breaks when she saw Jane’s scar. “Oh my God,” she exclaimed. “He did that to you?” Jane pushed the shirt back into its proper place. “He did,” she said. “That’s another reason why I revenge on the bastard. He did that to me after he got Hybrid locked away in some container. He was going to have one of his henchmen do it, but he decided to do it himself.”

“But why?”

“He said ‘I want people to fear my name and understand that I am a person that is not to be messed with’. He didn’t care that he hurt me. I don’t think he even cared that we were together at all. It was more or less power that he was hungry for.”

“Did you try going to the police?”

“They were of no help. They tried to get a police report, but when they realized he was in the U.S. they couldn’t tell anything until he set foot back on Canadian soil. They were going to try and get the FBI involved, or some other agency. Last time I checked they were trying, but that was before I moved here.”  

Dora reached out and put a hand on Jane’s shoulder. “You’ve been through so much.”

“I’ll feel better once I have Hybrid back with me,” she said. “He’ll be able to heal up those scars.” She looked over at Dora. “Once I have that information for you, I’ll send it over to you, but what do you plan on doing with it?”

“I’m still not sure, but I think I might turn it over to a journalist who was covering him before. Maybe you’ve heard of him, Eddie Brock?”

This brought Jane up short; she wasn’t expecting to hear that name again. She had just met the guy only an hour ago and yet here he was, popping out of nowhere again and surprising her. “Yeah I’ve heard of him,” Jane mumbled. “What happened with the interview?”

Dora sighed. “From what I’ve heard, he got some sensitive information from a law firm about the wrongful deaths of some of our test subjects. Not only did Eddie get fired, but I think it was his fiancé that got fired as well. I’m sure Drake made sure that they both got fired for what Eddie pulled on him.”

“Oh my god,” Jane said, her voice soft. So Carlton Drake did affect more than one person, not just hers but also Eddie’s and his fiancé, or should she say his ex-fiancé. She thought of that earlier conversation that she had with Eddie. _I had a bad break up a few months ago._ Was that due to him getting his fiancé fired? She could understand her reasons why, I mean a guy that she had trusted went behind her back, stole valuable information from a case regarding the Life Foundation and began poking around.

There was a part of her that longed that she get revenge on the guy, not just for her, but for Eddie as well. Maybe even for Hybrid as well.

“That guy’s going to pay,” Jane growled. They had reached the Life Foundation, where Jane snuck into the back of the vehicle to avoid being seen by the security guards. Once they had passed through the gate, they reached the building and got in through to the lab.

The air was strikingly cold, the lights so dark that Jane had to use the flashlight on her phone to see where she was going. As she passed the glass rooms, Raven could see several figures asleep on the middle of the floor and glowing lights from the monitors that surrounded them. Jane had to stop when she saw the woman from earlier, the homeless woman that she had offered the food only a few hours earlier. How had she ended up here so fast? Did they simply abduct her and force her into being a test subject? It seemed like a logical reason, the Life Foundation could get away with whatever they wanted, simply implying that the test subject would be well paid for if they offered themselves to be experimented on and then disposing of the corpse when they were no longer needed for the experiment.

She jumped a little when she felt a hand grab her arm. She turned to find Dora standing there, a concerned look on her face. “You alright?” she asked. Jane took in a shaking breath. “Yeah I’m fine,” she said. As she followed Dora, Jane couldn’t help but wonder how close she had been that night she lost Hybrid, how close would she have been and ended up in one of these glass cages and ended up like an experiment like so many of these people?

She followed Dora over to the last room, where it contained nothing more than a glass container. She immediately recognized the scarlet goo in the glass container, it was Hybrid. “Hybrid,” she said, pressing her hands against the glass. She turned to Dora. “Get him out of there!”

Dora was punching buttons into a computer near the door. “Hold on,” she said. Jane turned back to the room where she saw the glass container open and the goo began crawling out. The door opened before the goo came over to where Jane was standing. Jane knelt down so she was on more of a smaller level with the creature. “Hybrid?” she asked. “Do you recognize me? It’s Jane.”

The goo didn’t move, it seemed to hesitate before it raised itself from the floor. _He doesn’t recognize me,_ she thought. Jane removed the black wig and shook out her hair from the bun. The goo seemed to do an odd jerking movement before it flung itself at her. She felt the goo hit her in the chest, before she felt it seep into her skin.

_Hello there my love,_ said a smooth male voice. She raised her hand to her chest, as thought she could feel Hybrid sitting there.  “I’m just happy you’re back,” she said. They heard approaching footsteps, which made both Dora and Jane’s heads shot up. “Security,” said Dora. “We need to get out of here.” Jane jumped up, quickly grabbing her wig. They dashed out of the corridor before they came to the locked door that would lead them back to the parking lot. “I’m going to see if I can shake him off,” Dora said. “In the meantime just wait here.”

_I can sneak out,_ said Hybrid. _I’ll hide you with the camouflage ability._ “Hold on Dora,” said Jane, quickly grabbing her arm to stop her. “I’ll sneak out to the car and meet you there.” Dora looked at her like she was crazy. “Are you-“

“Trust me,” Jane said. “It’ll be okay. He won’t see me. I promise.” Dora looked skeptical but opened the door, by the time Dora turned around, Jane had disappeared. It may have seemed that Jane had disappeared, but what had really happened was Hybrid had used his camouflage ability on her. As Dora walked out of the door, she encountered a security guard; Jane was able to sneak away back to Dora’s car without being seen and without being heard. There was a close call when she stubbed her toe, and the security guard was about twenty feet away. Thankfully he sneezed at the same time that Jane swore silently. _At least the camouflage didn’t wear off,_ thought Jane as she finally made it out the door and back to Dora’s car in the garage.

It was twenty minutes before Dora showed up again. “About time,” said Jane, reappearing on the hood of Dora’s car, causing her to jump. “I was about to take a nap.”

 “Sorry,” said Dora. “He loves to chat.” They drove off back to San Francisco. It was a little after five when they got back. Hybrid was quiet the entire time that they were driving home, although Dora was quite chatty and talking about other things other than the kidnapping heist that they just pulled off.

Jane was just happy that she was back home, back in her quiet and dark apartment with no one there to bother her. She pulled on her pajama’s and removing her makeup and wig, pulled out her bedsheets and quickly made the bed before climbing into her bed. She felt hurt, exhausted and sore from her wound from earlier but the pain was more manageable than when she first got it.

She turned over on her side, wincing a little as she felt the pain go up her arm. _You alright my love?_ asked Hybrid. _You’re a lot more quiet than you usually are. Are you sick?_

**_“I’m just sore,”_** she thought to Hybrid. **_“I don’t know if you were able to tell from my memories from earlier tonight s, but I just got hurt. Plus, I haven’t been sleeping well for just about a month and I have a scar from my mortal enemy that hasn’t been healed. The voices in my head won’t shut up.”_**

She felt a warm tendril appear before the scarlet ooze appeared, enlarging itself to the size of a small dog. She felt the symbiote curl around her body and squeeze her gently.  _“You’re alright now my love,”_ said Hybrid, tendrils gently stroking her face. _“Go to sleep. I’ll heal you. Don’t stress yourself out. I’m with you now. No more nasty voices in your head to bother you.”_

Jane pulled the ooze closer to her, as though she were clutching a teddy bear. For the first time in a long time, she felt complete and whole. “Thank you Hybrid,” she whispered. “And I won’t let anyone ever hurt you again. I promise, we’ll get back at Carlton Drake for what he’s done to us. And that’s a promise.”  

 


	4. Hacking

Chapter 3

            She wasn’t sure how long she had slept for, but she it wasn’t long before she could hear the sounds of the city coming from the open window, traffic, the muffled conversations and dogs barking. It wasn’t until she felt the sunlight shining in her eyes, did she open her eyes to find that it was morning.  She checked the time on her phone, it was almost eleven thirty. _God I must have been tired,_ she thought, rubbing her face with her hand. _I never sleep that long, even if it is a weekend._

            _I would say so,_ said Hybrid. _You were snoring up a storm._ “Oh come on, I can’t help it,” she said as she got out of bed, ignoring the small stab of pain in her ribs from where she was kicked last night. She inhaled sharply before the pain faded away. “I was exhausted. Plus considering all the stuff that went on yesterday, anyone would be tired. How were my injuries?”

            _They weren’t as bad as I thought,_ said Hybrid. _Those scars took a lot longer to heal, but other than that, you’re healed. I don’t see much use for that bandage on your arm._ Jane looked down to find the scars were gone, the skin looking as it was before the incident. Jane smiled. “Thank you, Hybrid,” she said. “Just for that, I’m taking you out for breakfast. I got some stuff I need to do today.”

_Such as?_

“I need to pick up the rental car, getting groceries, and maybe having a coffee date with my hero from last night.” Her stomach growled. “And get some breakfast.”

_Ah, you got a date with Eddie Brock, right?_

“Oh, you saw that?”

_There’s nothing that you can hide from me Jane, considering I’m inside your head._

“Right. How could I forget? You know me better than I know myself.” She went into the bathroom to grab her medication. She took one, taking a sip of water before heading back to her bedroom.

_I wouldn’t say better, you seem to be having strong feelings towards a guy you just met. Even I don’t know how you’re drawn to him, human anatomy still confuses me._

“I don’t know how to explain it either Hybrid, but I guess it happened. Maybe it was due to the adrenaline I was feeling earlier this morning or if it was just my feeling of being grateful that I wasn’t killed.” She hesitated. “But then again there are people that are just drawn to each other without even realizing it.”

_Still, if I were there, they wouldn’t have lasted a second._

“I know Hybrid. I remember. I won’t forget the first time that happened. But I still remember that you get jealous if another guy comes near me, even if it was just a friendly co-worker at work. Are you going to behave yourself while I’m seeing him or am I going to have to come up with an explanation on why I was attacking him?”

_You can always tell him that you wanted his –_

“Ew, no. You know my beliefs and I’m sure you would have seen that he wasn’t looking for **that** kind of relationship yet either. He just got broken up with his fiancé six months ago. I’m not sure if he’s completely over her.”

_I’m teasing._

Jane smiled before she sighed. “I didn’t think symbiote’s had a sense of humor.”

_Some of us do._

            Jane laughed. “So, what do you feel like for breakfast?” she asked. _Something with chocolate and crunchy. Maybe something with meat. Otherwise your liver’s starting to look really good._

Jane thought about it before she said, “Hot chocolate and cinnamon bun?” She put a hand on her stomach. “And don’t go after my liver or my ovaries, you remember what happened last time?”

  _Alright alright fine, I would eat your liver and your ovaries were – ugh. But anyways, breakfast sounds good to me. Maybe you should make it double, I haven’t eaten in over a month and those test subjects weren’t the best thing for me._

“You got it,” she said. She quickly changed, putting on “Considering that I haven’t had a proper meal in two days, I think I’ll need a triple.” She pulled out her cell phone as her phone buzzed. It was a text message from Eddie

**Feel like coffee at 3?**

Jane texted back.

**Absolutely! Where do you want me to meet you?**

Eddie texted her back an address of a small coffee shop just a few blocks from her apartment.

**Great, see you then!**

She quickly got changed into blue jeans, black boots and a black shirt. She grabbed a navy blue jacket and her messenger back, which she slung over her shoulder. She ran a brush through her hair, touched up her make up before she grabbed her keys, and for good measure, grabbed her Taser which she put in her bag. 

Thankfully her errand didn’t take too long; the car rental company was absolutely fantastic to work with after she had explained her arriving late situation to them. She was able to get a rental car that was similar to the car that she had back home, a 2016 Nissan Rouge in black.

Hybrid stared suspiciously at the vehicle before Jane got in it, but after getting reassurance that they would be safe and it would be a lot safer than a motorcycle, Hybrid relaxed. He even had a moment where he started singing and was tempted to roll down the window to stick his head out as though he were a dog, but Jane stopped him. “It’s not night time yet,” she said, rolling up the window. “You’re going to draw attention to us. Besides, you better bring up your head in this window before I roll it up in there.” Hybrid did as he was asked, although it didn’t stop him from humming along to the radio. Jane tuned him out after five minutes of this.

            She then drove to a café where she ordered a breakfast sandwich with extra bacon and some hot chocolate. The cashier looked dumbfounded when Jane ordered three breakfast sandwiches.

“What’s going on miss? Are you pregnant?” asked the male cashier. She felt Hybrid ready to jump out and attack the cashier so she said quickly, “No I’m not pregnant. You should never assume that unless you see a pregnant belly on a girl. It makes girls like me, who aren’t pregnant, feel even more self-conscious about ourselves.” Hybrid laughed. “My apologies miss,” said the waiter as he backed away, his cheeks burning.

 Hybrid was satisfied after Jane had finished her breakfast, who had somehow managed to eat all three breakfast sandwiches and five mugs of hot chocolate. The only downside to having a symbiote was feeling hungry all the time, but thankfully Jane was able to figure out that symbiotes liked certain foods and was able to satisfy their hunger.

  _I’ve forgotten how good human food was,_ he said as Jane walked back to her car. _Especially chocolate._ “Probably better than brains and lobster,” she muttered. “I’m not going in the lobster tank again. That was embarrassing.”

_It was pretty funny to me._

“Oh shut up.” 

 She then went to a farmer’s market where she got her groceries, unfortunately she almost had an attack when Hybrid tried to get her to climb into a tank full of lobsters. “Hey, none of that,” she whispered, stopping her body in her tracks just as she made to climb into the tank. “We’re in public remember? That’s why I’m getting chocolate.” _Be sure to get plenty of it,_ said Hybrid. _I haven’t had any form of nourishment in a while._ She then purchased a several five pound chocolate bars from a nearby candy store, which she stuffed inside her messenger bag for safe keeping. “Now we should be good for a bit. Assuming we don’t eat it all in one sitting.”

By the time she had unloaded all the groceries, she checked on the status of the project, which by now was about fifty percent done. “Good grief, how much crap does this guy have on his hard drive?” she said as she created an alert on her computer to let her know when the program was done uploading.

By the time three o clock had arrived, Jane was just pulling her vehicle into an empty parking spot outside the café just as a black motorcycle pulled up. “Hey,” said Eddie, taking off his helmet and dismounting the bike.

“Hey,” she said smiling. She felt Hybrid growl, an intimidating snarl that sent shivers up Jane’s spine. **_“Shh,”_** she thought. **_“Please do not ruin this for me. I don’t want him to think I’m weird. Well, weirder.”_** She could feel Hybrid eyeing up Eddie, as though trying to figure out if he was a threat or not. She felt Hybrid growl a little when Eddie pulled Jane in for a kiss. **_“Shh. Don’t do this please. Don’t ruin this for me. I haven’t been with a guy in years.”_**  “You look better,” he said. “How’s the arm?”

“A little sore but not bad,” she said, showing him the bandage that she had reapplied this morning, although it was just for show. “I took some pain medication before I went to bed. Knocked me out.” Eddie laughed as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they walked into the coffee shop. _He seems to be okay,_ said Hybrid. _For now._ She pictured Hybrid giving Eddie the stink eye, where she laughed silently to herself.

They ordered their coffee and went to sit at table near the window. For the next few hours, she learned that he used to be a reporter, although she learned this from last night. He kept his questions in a safe territory that mainly focused about her previous job, her family, and what it was like growing up in Canada. Honestly it was the funniest thing, trying to explain what ‘poutine’ and ‘beaver tails’ were to someone who had never eaten or seen these types of food before.

“It’s a fantastic dish,” she said after she finished trying to describe poutine to him. “Fries, gravy, cheese, and whichever toppings you want.”

“Might have to try it now, I’m drooling just thinking of it,” he said, pretending to wipe drool from his sleeve. Jane laughed.

It had honestly been one of the best times that she had in the last few months, and she was glad that Hybrid was keeping himself in check and not making her act like a crazy person. Hybrid seemed to understand that she wanted a boyfriend and was respecting her wishes. She was sure that if Eddie wasn’t boyfriend material or if Hybrid sensed something about him that he didn’t like, she was sure Hybrid would let her know. The last thing she needed was Hybrid popping out and pounding Eddie into smithereens when he was trying to give her a hug or some other innocent gesture when he tried to touch her. 

They ordered another round of coffee with two cinnamon rolls that were the size of Frisbees. Eddie was surprised when Jane finished her whole portion in a matter of minutes and was ordering a second. “What?” she asked as she picked apart her second cinnamon roll. “I haven’t had a proper meal since last night. I’m still staving.”

“No, it’s not that,” said Eddie. “You just surprised me when you ate all that food. I though all girls had small appetites.”

“Not with me,” said Jane. “I eat as much as I want but I still stay the same weight that I am now.” She thought for a moment. “Although my friend could eat a whole large pizza by herself and still remain as skinny as she is. I guess it depends on how good out metabolism is.”

It turns out he was everything that she was interested in a guy, smart kind and insanely attractive. He even politely turned down a waitress, who was attempting to flirt with him and give him her number. “How come you turned her down?” she asked. “Because, I’m with my date right now. And I don’t want anyone coming between us.” He placed a hand on her knee under the table. Once again, the electricity went through her, which made her want to take him right then and there, but she resisted the urge. She just smiled at him, placing her hand on his and giving it a gentle squeeze. “That’s very sweet of you. Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” he said. He then noticed the silver cross necklace that she was wearing around her neck. “That’s a lovely necklace,” he said, reaching out to touch it. “That was grandpa’s,” said Jane. “He gave it to me when I turned ten. He said it was for good luck.”

“It’s beautiful,” he said. “It looks beautiful on you. It brings out your eyes. Makes them look even more green.”

 It was only when the barista started closing did she realize how late it was and how long they had been talking for. Honestly Eddie didn’t look any more enthused about the date ending. “Hard to believe how much time flies,” he said as they left the café.

“Yeah I know,” she said. “Time flies when we’re you’re having fun.”

“Do you want to take a stroll in the park?” he asked. He seemed not to have wanted the date to end, and neither did Jane. “Sure,” she said. “I think that’s a good idea.” They went towards Golden Gate Park. “It’s so beautiful out here,” she said, taking in the view of the city with the lights on. “Not as beautiful as you,” murmured Eddie. This pulled Jane up short. Beautiful?

“Beautiful?” she asked. “I don’t think so. I’m not-“

She broke off when she felt Eddie grab her hands, squeezing them gently. “Hey, don’t put yourself down,” he said. “You’re beautiful. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.” She smiled, ducking her head. She felt his hand touch her cheek, once again that electric current going through her. So, it wasn’t adrenaline going through her right now, it was more or less her nerves that were doing it. How else could she explain this feeling whenever he touched her like this?

“You’re like me in a way,” he said. “Alone, shunned, misunderstood.” Jane smiled. “I won’t deny that,” she said. “I’ve felt misunderstood my entire life. I felt like I was the weird one in school. It’s nice to have someone that understands.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” he said before leaning down and kissing her. Much like the night before, there was the same amount of passion and hunger towards one another. Perhaps he must have sensed the hunger and passion too because he pulled away, placing his head on hers.

“I hope I’m not being too far forward,” he said, his breath fanning her face. She could smell the coffee from earlier and it made her mouth water. “Not at all,” she said, smiling. She leaned up and kissed him. The kiss started out soft, tentative and normal before the gentle meeting of the tongues, turning an innocent kiss into a wild, passionate one.

She felt the rough bark press against her back as she felt Eddie push her against the tree, pushing his body closer to her. His hands pressing into her back as though trying to push her closer to him as her own hands wrapped around his neck in an effort to get closer to him. They broke apart, but the passion didn’t end there, Eddie began placing kisses down her jaw and down her neck. Every kiss seemed to send her nerves into a frenzy, her brain seemed to be overrun with pleasure and for a moment, she didn’t care if they did have sex in the park because she was with Eddie, a guy that truly cared for her and that was the only thing that mattered in that moment.

Unfortunately, their kissing session was cut short by the ringing of her cell phone. “Sorry,” she said apologetically when they broke apart. She checked her phone, there was a new notification.

 

 **Life Foundation imported process - completed**   

 

            Jane sighed. “I’m sorry,” she said. She quickly went with her cover story. “It’s work. A server in an IT business downtown crashed and it’s the end of the world as they know it.”

            “Do you need a ride there?” asked Eddie. “No I’m fine,” she said. “I might be there for a few hours. Last time I was at a law firm it was for six hours trying to fix a server that had crashed where it turned out to be a simple mistake that was easily corrected.” She looked up at him. “Do you want to come to my place tomorrow?” she asked. “I just got settled in. I could use some company; it’s kind of lonely at night.”

            He grinned. “That sounds like a good idea,” he said. “Should we say 6?” In answer, Jane kissed him. “Absolutely,” she said.

 

            _Well that was interesting,_ Hybrid said as Jane climbed the stairs to her apartment. **_“Which part? The date or that intense kissing session?”_**

_Both I guess. I never seen you so interested in a guy. Plus, I felt the heat from that kissing session. That was **hot** even for me._

Jane sighed, of course, nothing would go unnoticed by Hybrid. **_Sometimes I keep forgetting that you’re there Hybrid. You were quiet the entire time that I was with Eddie. Is everything okay? Also, what did you think of Eddie?_**

_He seems to be okay, plus I was listening in on some of the conversation, and you two seemed to have a real connection. Plus, you seemed to like him, so I left you alone. I’m sure the last thing that you wanted was me trying to talk you out of dating him._

Jane smiled. **_Thank you Hybrid, I really appreciate it. You don’t know how much this means to me. I mean, I haven’t been with a guy in so long I’ve forgotten what it felt like. And that passion –_**

She fanned her face with her hand as she felt the heat rise in her cheeks again. **_I was not expecting that at all. I’ve never gotten that feeling around with anyone, not even with my ex-boyfriends._**

She had reached her apartment and pulled out her key. She went inside her apartment, placing her messenger bag and jacket on the marble island before she went to the master bedroom to check on the program list on Webster Serpent. There was only one on the list, The Life Foundation, which had a green checkmark by it. She clicked on it and read the information about the document. 

The programing part had taken a lot longer than she had thought. She had found just about 500 GB of data, which had taken just about twenty-four hours for her to download to a server in Thailand.

Once that had been done, she now opened another program that would allow her to find any incriminating evidence against Carlton Drake. The tricky part was finding the correct keywords that would find the evidence that she was looking for, whether that be in the movie videos of experiments, voice recordings, PDF files, law firms files, reports, news articles, anything encrypted or attempted to destroyed documents, clips that were never aired on the news, and any attachments or emails. As long as the keyword was entered in, then the program would find it and count it as evidence towards Carlton Drake.

            She started off with the basic keywords like ‘test subjects’, ‘life forms’, ‘symbiotes’, etc. By the time she was done with the basic keyword, she had over fifty keywords to search for. Now came the tricky part, trying to find more keywords that would find even more incriminating evidence. With two breaks for Pepsi, with some suggestions from Hybrid, and a brief chat session with Dora, she had ended up with over a thousand keywords to help her with her search. She was about to activate the program when she thought of an idea, it was a long shot but it might help. She then added eight more keywords, ‘Eddie Brock’, ‘Anne Weying’, ‘Jane Sullivan’, and ‘Lisbeth Stein’, which brought the total keyword count to 1,200 keywords.

“Hopefully we find something after this,” she said as she clicked the “Search” Button. “Otherwise I’ll be spending days, maybe even weeks going through this stuff with a fine tooth comb to try and find all the information.” She looked out the window at the late evening sky. “I don’t know about you but I don’t feel like going through ten thousand pages of material and hours of attachments just to find evidence.”

A little window popped up with a magnifying class. **Estimated time – 4 hours.** She leaned back in her chair and stretched. “Well it’s better than a full day of waiting,” she said. She rubbed her tired eyes and checked the time on her phone. “Two in the morning,” she said. “I’m exhausted.”

 _Why don’t you create an alert and go have a snooze? You look like you’re about to pass out._ Suggested Hybrid. “It’s already got an alert set on it,” said Jane. “That’s built into the program. It’ll let me know when it’s done.” She stood up and stretched her sore body. “But you’re right; I think I’ll take a cat nap while I wait. I feel like my eyes are about to bugger out of my skull.” She went to the bedroom where she fell asleep, not even bothering to crawl under the covers.

Four hours later, a soft beeping from her cell phone alerted her. “About time,” she said as she went back to the computer. The program had created a PDF document of 5000 pages and several videos along with voice recordings. Jane quickly skimmed through it, the program had done a fantastic job in finding the information that she had been looking for. She made a mental note to thank Wasp for helping her with the program and make sure she recommended the program to her fellow hacker friends if they were searching for certain information.

The further she went down the document, the more disgusted she became. She could barely make it through the videos and voice recordings without feeling sick, once or twice she had to close her laptop and walk away for a few minutes to calm down before she returned back to skimming through the information. She was surprised to find a file about her, but when it came down to reading it, she just about threw her computer across the room in disgust and anger. By the time she reached the end of the document, she felt absolutely sick about the whole thing.

She quickly logged into Webster Serpent and sent an encrypted email to Dora.

 

**Hi Dora,**

**I was able to get the necessary information that you were looking for. I’ve attached it to the email; it’s over 5000 pages and some attachments of some other projects. Let me tell you there is some nasty shit on here. Please see to it that Eddie gets this information. If he asks where you got it from, tell him that I got it from a hacker named Lisbeth, but don’t give my real name. He doesn’t need to know yet. I’ll keep a backup of this information just in case something happens to it (which might happen considering who we’re dealing with) and I’ll make sure he can’t get his greasy hands on it.**

**Lisbeth**   
  


Apparently, Dora must have been up at this hour because the reply came a few minutes later. 

**Hi Lisbeth,**

**Thanks so much for doing this! I really appreciate it! 5000 pages? That’s a lot of incriminating evidence. Don’t worry, I won’t reveal your true name, but I will give you your hacker name. I’ll try and convince him, but if he says otherwise I’ll try and think of something. I’m sure you could convince him if it really came down to it. I’ll pay you later on this week, plus a bonus for the quick work. Don’t worry, we’ll get the Life Foundation out in the open and expose Carlton Drake for the monster that he is. I’ll keep you posted.**

**Dora.**

“Good enough for me,” muttered Jane as she headed to her room to go to sleep. 

 


	5. Infected

Chapter 4

It was later on that night that Jane woke up in the middle of the night, troubled by her nightmare. She had dreamt that Carlton Drake was torturing her in one of the glass rooms at the Life Foundation. He had not only beaten her but he – _raped her._ The very words made her feel violated and hollowed out. Just thinking about it made the pit of her stomach shrink and her mind immediately went back to those first few months without Hybrid, back when she was in the hospital, her innocence taken and her mind contemplating suicide along with her depression. She had even cut herself during those first few months in an effort to release some of the pain that she was feeling.

Eventually she stopped when her doctor’s warned her of sending her to the psychiatric ward in a mental hospital. Just thinking of the old building and its inhabitants eventually drove the urge to cut from her mind. It was through the thought of getting Hybrid back and wanting to take down Carlton Drake that eventually snapped the suicide and depression out of her.

But still – those feelings of being lost and the pain she was feeling -

**_“Don’t think about that,”_** she thought to herself sternly, putting her head in her hands as she tried to breathe normally although she was still shaking from the nightmare. _Everything alright my love?_ Hybrid asked voice still sleepy. **_No, I’m not alright,_** she thought. **_Just going through all that information brought back those memories of when you were –_**

She couldn’t complete on her sentence. She felt a tendril wrap around her shoulders, gently giving her a squeeze. _It’s alright my love,_ said Hybrid. _I’m here now. Do you want me to sing you to sleep?_

**_It might help, what time is it?_ **

_It’s after four._

**_Maybe it might help. Anything to get rid of that nightmare of Drake!_ **

_I won’t deny, that dream was fucked up! Even I was terrified. I was able to see it from your perspective. I had no idea how much you suffered while I was gone. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there._

**_It’s not your fault Hybrid, if anything it was Drake’s fault. He did this to us. The bastard’s going to pay in the end._ **

_Oh I agree, he will pay for what he’s done to us. Nobody and I mean **nobody** hurts you._

            “Well said Hybrid,” she said, turning over on her side and closing her eyes. She heard Hybrid singing softly, which eventually let Jane slip back into a dreamless sleep.

 

 

            The buzzing of her phone woke her up. Jane jerked awake, feeling sleepy, as though she had only been asleep for five minutes. She checked her phone, where she saw that it was after nine and there was a new message from Eddie.

 

**Going to have to cancel our date for tonight. Something came up. I’ll let you know when I’m free again.**

            “Dora must have gotten to him,” she said to Hybrid. _I wonder how she did it,_ said Hybrid. “I’d like to find out for myself too,” said Jane. She texted Eddie back.

 

**Not a problem. Let me know when you’re free again. Talk to you soon** **J**

She quickly logged on to Serpent Webster, where she sent an email to Dora.

 

**Hi Dora,**

**Were you able to convince Eddie about the Life Foundation? Also, how were you able to do it?**

**Lisbeth**  

 

She closed her computer, placing it on the bedside table before turning over on her side. She lay dozing for half an hour before she went to grab some coffee in the kitchen. She made herself a toasted bagel with bacon, eggs and avocado.

_I don’t know how you can eat that stuff,_ said Hybrid as Jane was cutting up an avocado. _It looks nasty. Eugh._ He watched as Jane mashed up the avocado in a bowl, where it turned into a thick green paste.

“It’s better than butter,” said Jane, putting a mixture onto the bagel. “Plus, it’s very good for you. It’s much healthier than bacon.” She took a bite of her bagel as she carried her breakfast into the living room and turned on the TV, although she didn’t watch anything, just kept it on for background noise.

She was flipping through Facebook to check on how her friends and family were doing before she heard a beeping come from her phone. She quickly grabbed her laptop where she opened it up to find an email from Dora.  

 

**Hi Lisbeth,**

**I was able to convince him but let me tell you it wasn’t easy. I told him that I worked at the Life Foundation and that I needed help with trying to get the dirt out on Carlton Drake. At first, he absolutely refused, saying I was crazy but I did get a call from him about six this morning. I don’t know what made him change his mind. But anyways, we’re heading over there tonight. I’ll let you know how it goes. As promised, here’s that money I promised you.**

**Dora**

 

There was a loud PING as a notification form Webster Serpent popped up on the screen. **Payment has been made. Amount $40,000.** “Oh wow, she really must be impressed with my work,” said Jane, taking a bite from her bagel. _How much were you going to charge her?_

“We agreed on 15, 000,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting that much of a bonus.” _Is she crazy?_ “You would hope not,” said Jane. “She is one of the top researchers at the Life Foundation. I mean she didn’t get the job at the Life Foundation for being crazy.”

_Anyways, what are we doing today?_ “Might be a lazy day today,” said Jane. “I mean I haven’t gotten any other assignments and Eddie won’t be coming over anytime tonight so really, I have nothing new to do or work on today.” She looked around the apartment. “Plus, I need to catch up on some sleep. I’ve been having a wonky sleep schedule since I’ve been here. I don’t think I’ve slept a full eight hours since I’ve been here. It’s three hours the one day and six the next day.”

_I agree,_ said Hybrid. _I feel your energy and you might be ready for a sleep after your coffee._ “I think you’re right about that,” she said. She took a swig of coffee, but the caffeine that would normally wake her up, didn’t seem to be affecting her. It just seemed to be making her even more tired as though she had taken a dose of sleeping pills. “I might be calling it quits after my coffee,” she said. She would have considered going back to her room, but with the TV going, her full stomach and the warm room, Jane quickly fell asleep.

 

 

The ringing of the doorbell jerked Jane awake, wondering who the hell could be ringing her doorbell at this time of the day. She wasn’t expecting anybody. She checked the clock to find it was a little after five in the evening and it was dark outside. She approached the door in a creeping ninja-like fashion. **_Is it safe to open?_** She thought to Hybrid. _There’s nothing dangerous outside, although there is a human presence outside. I just can’t make out who it is._

**_Do you remember our safe word just in case it turns out to be a threat?_ **

_Lockdown?_

**_You got it._** She carefully grasped the cold doorknob in her hand and went to look through the peephole but saw no one there. She opened the door and –

“EDDIE!” Jane shrieked as he nearly fell on her. Jane was able to catch him and steady him, although he swayed like he was drunk and the moment she touched his skin, it was burning hot as though he had been standing by an open fire for hours. She pushed him up, although it wasn’t easy Eddie was nearly twice as heavy as her, but somehow she was able to stand him upright in the end. “Are you alright?” she asked. “You’re burning up.”

“I’m fine,” he said, his words slurring a little. It was in that moment that Jane was able to put two and two together, something was definitely not right.

 “You’re sick Eddie,” she said, making to go over to him but Hybrid stopped her. _Watch it,_ _he’s about to blow._

**_What do you-_ **

She was cut off when he vomited all over the floor. Thankfully Jane flung her arms up in time, even Hybrid forming a protective barrier over her, but thankfully he disappeared when the vomiting had subsided. “Yikes,” she said, wrinkling her nose at the smell of vomit. “That’s a lot of vomit.”

 “Sorry,” he apologized. “No need to apologize,” she said, stepping over the pool of sick and helping him towards the bathroom, although she was a little leery just in case he threw up again. “Let’s just get you some medication and we’ll get you feeling better.” She was able to get him into the bathroom, sat him down on the floor as she went to find the small pack of medicine that she always took with her.

Experience always told her to carry medication just in case, especially when she was off travelling to places like Mexico, Peru, and Europe just in case she caught something or she ended up with food poisoning.

She found some medication that would normally treat fever as well as flu symptoms and helped Eddie take then. He was still burning up. She quickly got a wash cloth and began dabbing his face with it. He lay back against the wall, looking exhausted and completely out of it.

**_Guess I can’t ask him anything when he’s out like this,_** she thought. _Not normal,_ said Hybrid. **_What do you mean not normal?_** she asked.

_He’s not human anymore,_ said Hybrid. **_How can you tell?_**

_His scent has changed. It’s different from yesterday. He’s not normal._

**_Are you pulling my leg? Now’s not a good time for jokes._ **

_No, he’s changed. I don’t know what it is, but I think it might be the same condition as you and me._

**_You mean he’s bonded like us? How is that possible? Unless he –_** She broke off when she remembered the way she and Hybrid reunited at the Life Foundation, where they were in the room with all the other experiments. Could Eddie have been infected by one of the life forms there? If so, which one?

**_You said there were four life forms that were taken right?_ **

_Yes_

**_But from what I’ve read in the report one has escaped, which leaves us with three. Well two, there was a report that stated one of the life forms passed away along with the test subject. Which one is he infected with?_ **

_Hard to tell, it’s usually when they reveal themselves do you really know we’re dealing with but there are ways we can tell. Thankfully I will be able to figure out which was which._

**_How’s that?_ **

_We just got to see. Parts of their personality will begin to show after some time with the host and we will know then._

**_What do I do about Eddie in the meantime?_ **

_Do the same thing you would normally do when someone is sick. Help them get better._

**_Lucky for you, I have experience on how to treat someone and to help people get better. I guess it’s a good thing I got that job as Clinic Assistant._**  She decided to change the subject. **_So which symbiotes were left at the Life Foundation before you escaped?_**

_There was Phage, but he passed away not long before I escaped. There was Toxin and Venom, but I haven’t seen any sign of Riot when I was in there. From what I heard he must have been the one who escaped when the space shuttle landed on earth, although they didn’t call him that. They just said one test subject escaped from the launch six months ago. They haven’t heard or seen any sign of Riot since then._

**_Ok so there’s two symbiotes. Toxin and Venom, but how do we know which one is which? Also, should we still keep Riot on the list just in case?_ **

_You got a fair point there. Riot would be very easy to notice; he’s the alpha leader and is very deadly, even with a host. Toxin is dangerous too, but not as strong as Riot. As for Venom well, he’s more or less an outsider of the group, but he’ll be easy to spot as well._

**_What do you mean he’s an outsider of the group?_ **

_Well, this isn’t a very nice thing to say, but Riot and Toxin thought he was a loser compared to the others. He was only chosen because he was just about as strong as the other two, although his morals are a bit – different._

**_Different how?_ **

_His sense of morality was different, although he was eager to leave our home world behind which may have been the reason he agreed to come with us in the first place. I think he got tired of being shunned around._

**_Guess I can relate to him,_** thought Jane as she remembered being shunned around by her peers in high school just for being different. That was until she met Eddie earlier and they somehow clicked without even realizing it. _I think we both can, I did feel sorry for him too. I too was considered a weakling even more so than Venom, true I may have been strong, but I do try to improve my host rather than overtake them and make them my slave. It was my intension to take over humanity but then all that changed when I got here._

**_Really? What happened that made you change your mind?_** She felt a tendril wrap around her shoulders. _You did, my love. You helped me see that I wasn’t the only one going through being shunned for being weak and despite the fact that we are different species, we became better creatures and we are both stronger together than we are individually._

Jane smiled as she dabbed Eddie’s forehead. **_I’m flattered Hybrid, I really am. And I do appreciate having you. Thanks to you, I’m much more confident and I’m not as depressed as I was before. I don’t know where I would be without you here._** She paused to think for a moment and shuddered at the thought.

She reached out and with three fingers on each hand, very carefully felt Eddie’s glands. They were enlarged slightly but otherwise weren’t swollen enough to be considered serious.

The medication she gave him a few minutes ago should help. In the meantime, she should find a way to keep his temperature down. Getting him into the tub was out of the question, and she didn’t want to rely on Hybrid helping her because she wanted to avoid any awkward questions from Eddie if he ever came around.

She settled for wash cloths, a simple remedy that she found very effective, even when she was sick with fever. She placed two wet washcloths, placing one on the back of his neck and began dabbing his forehead.

**_Hard to believe he’s infected like me,_** she thought. **_And here I thought I was the only one._**

She made to dab at his chest when a tendril shot out at her, wrapping around her wrist and at the same time, she was lunged at by Eddie.

Thankfully she dodged out of the way, rolling over to the other side of the bathroom as she did a low flip. “Woah, what the-“ She felt her mouth drop open in horror as she saw that his eyes – his blue eyes- were completely black, making him look like he was possessed by the creature from within his body.

**_Oh my god, he’s possessed by it. What should I do?_ **

_Duck!_

Jane bolted to the side of the shower as Eddie came lunging forward at her. There was a loud crunch as the stone wall cracked. Eddie collapsed but he got up, shaking it off as though he had merely been hit by a feather. That little hit didn’t seem to faze him. “ **Hungry** ,” she heard a voice said and this time, lunged at Jane.

Being trapped in between the stone wall and the glass door of the shower, Jane was unable to dodge out of the way. She had no way of getting out. She was trapped and was now staring down an angry symbiote who was now controlling it’s hosts body. She backed up, trying to think of some kind of solution that would help her. She could try to slide under him, but it would be difficult without water and she would only use that as a last resort.

She felt something cold, hard and metal hit the middle of her back before a sudden realization hit her. An evil smile went over her smile. “Hey ya dumb parasite,” she taunted in a southern accent. “Come and get me ya dumb parasite.”

“ **Why you little-“** He made to lunge at her, but he was cut short as Jane reached behind her and turned the leaver all the way to the right, spraying scalding hot water into his face. The creature screamed in pain, Jane quickly took the opportunity to elbow him in the gut, where he toppled over. She rolled over top of him, landing on the safe side in the shower before she kicked him in the back, causing him to topple over and landing in the hot water before Jane headed over to the other side of the room to put some space in between her and whatever had control of Eddie.

She could see the steam form the shower and could make out a dark figure lying on the ground, but otherwise, she didn’t see anything. _Smart idea with the hot water as a distraction,_ said Hybrid. _But kind of wrong to call him the you-know-what word, I mean I thought you were better than that._

**_Come on, I was taunting him. How else was I supposed to get him to come charging at me like that? Otherwise he would have got me for sure._ **

She was cut short when someone grabbed her around her waist and slammed her to the ground, pinning her there. She felt hands wrap around her neck, but their grip didn’t last long. Jane was able to reach up with her legs and wrap them around the creature’s neck, pulling him off of her.

Thankfully, he released his grip on her neck. Jane rolled over onto her side and coughed, feeling relieved that she wasn’t being strangled anymore. **_Did I get him?_** She sat up to find the creature standing there, an evil smile twisting Eddie’s features.

**“I like ‘em fiery,”** said the creature. **“You got talent for a human.”**

_Oh my god, that’s Venom._ Jane registered the shock that went through her. If it had been any other symbiote, if it had been Riot, she would not have lasted very long. “Hate to break it to you, but I’m not a normal human,” snarled Jane. “I’ve been infected with one of you as well.”

The creature laughed. **“Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no way you could have been infected by one of us.”**

**_“What would you call us then?”_** asked Jane, her voice and Hybrid’s voice coming together in harmony as Jane stood up, allowing Hybrid to take control of her body. She felt Hybrid’s form trickle out to cover her entire body, her figure growing to just over six feet tall and looked as menacing with the four dark red tendrils appearing out of the back, the white eyes that were stretched into a permanent scowl and a mouth full of sharp teeth. The very presence of Jane and Hybrid’s body just screamed menacing and evil.

Venom looked shocked by Hybrid’s sudden appearance. **“Well I’ll be,”** said the creature. “ **Hybrid, the weakling, has finally found a host.”** He approached her, although neither Jane nor Hybrid made any move to back away. She was taller than him and was cowering over him, although she was surprised that Venom wasn’t leaning away in sheer fright.

**“I guess there was hope for you after all.”** Hybrid wrapped a large, scarlet hand wrap around the creature’s neck. **“ _I would be very careful I were you Venom,”_ **said Hybrid, a snarl in his voice. **“ _You don’t want to go making fun of the wrong symbiote.”_ **

Hybrid tightened his grip on Eddie’s neck, and for a second, Jane thought he was going to break Eddie’s neck. She couldn’t let that happen.

_Hybrid that’s enough, let me talk to him._ Hybrid seemed to hesitate before he said in a somewhat reluctant voice. **_“My host wishes to speak to you.”_** He leaned down and said in a very menacing voice, **_“Don’t you are lay a finger on her, because if you do, I will make sure you never live to possess another body.”_**

**“Alright, alright I won’t touch her. Don’t have a hissy fit, Hybrid.”**

Hybrid released his hand, Hybrid melting away to reveal Jane underneath, now back to her human form and feeling a lot less intimidating than she did with Hybrid covering her. Venom approached her and bent down, sniffing the top of her head. She felt a little repulsed at the way he was sniffing at her, like he smelled a sample of meat before eating it.

**“I should have guessed that was Hybrid’s smell on you,”** said Venom. **“I wouldn’t have expected him to have bonded with anyone. Least of all a human girl.”** Jane clenched her jaw, the veins on her neck exposed. “For your information, I’m a lot tougher than I look. You saw the way I kicked your butt. That wasn’t Hybrid at all, that was all me.”

**“But why would he have chosen a human, who has the smell of pain on her scent?”** leered Venom. “That is none of your god damn business,” snarled Jane, taking a step closer so she was almost nose to nose with the symbiote. **“Ohh, touchy subject,”** he said. **“What did you do? Cut yourself? Try to swallow pills?”**

SMACK!

            Jane had slapped the symbiote across the face with as much force as she could muster, although it left her hand stinging. _“I told you it’s none of your god damn business,”_ snarled Jane through her teeth, which came out a little muffled. Venom looked back up at her, probably thinking about whether he should go one on one with the angry human or leave things alone. But then again, Venom did know that Hybrid was with Jane, so provoking her would create a reaction from Hybrid.

            In the end, he decided against it. **“Fine,”** he said. **“I won’t provoke you any further, although I’m wondering how much of a reaction I can get through him when I find out he’s infected with me.”** A wicked smile came over his features. 

“Don’t you dare do anything with Eddie,” said Jane, pointing a threatening finger. Venom laughed. **“Relax little one, I won’t do anything to him. I know you two are a thing, but how long can you keep this under wraps? I’m sure sooner or later, something going to slip up.”**

“I’ll deal with it when the time comes,” said Jane. Venom laughed, before the black eyes vanished, leaving Eddie as he was before. Jane caught him just as he was about to topple over again. “Jane?” he asked weakly. “Come on Eddie,” she said. “Let’s get you feeling better.” She was able to get him into the tub with cold water. She had removed his phone and other personal belongings from his pockets before stripping him of his shirt and pants, leaving him in his boxer briefs. As he lay soaking in the tub, Jane cleaned up the bathroom from her fight with Venom.

            She rinsed two more wash cloths and began dabbing at his neck. _It’s going to be a long night,_ she thought, sitting on the edge on the tub as she began dabbing at his neck again. 


	6. Unexpected News

Chapter 5

            It was a little after six the next morning when Eddie woke up. Jane had stayed up most of the night to make sure he was okay. She checked on his temperature, keeping the bath water and wash clothes cold, made sure he drank liquids and took the medication at the appropriate times.

            Once or twice, Venom did make reappearance, but nothing more than the possessed form that he had appeared as before and he didn’t fight Jane again, thank God. He merely appeared, a little bit suspicious at first before he said “ **HUNGRY”** and Jane immediately knew how to handle the creature.

 Each time this happened, Jane would offer the symbiote chocolate, which seemed to cheer him up before disappearing again. “It’s better than brains,” said Jane when she first offered the symbiote chocolate, which at first turned his nose up at it. “But it’s got the same reaction as you do when you eat a brain, plus I’m not killing anybody to get it.”

**_I feel like I’m looking after two sick kids and I’m a single parent_** _,_ she thought to Hybrid as she made herself another cup of coffee. It was her fifth one of the evening. She rubbed her tired eyes before taking a huge swig of coffee. **_This is just exhausting._**

_You’re doing very well,_ said Hybrid. _Even better than I thought you would. Don’t worry, it won’t be long now. The fever portion only lasts a few hours._

**_How many hours did it last for again? I didn’t keep track the first time. Actually, there was no fever when we re-bonded again, why is that?_ **

_About eight or twelve hours last time I checked, that’s when I had deemed you as my host. You at least seemed to know what was going on and how to treat it. And to answer your other question, because we were bonded before, your system didn’t react to me the same way. It just accepted me, rather than trying to fight me off as a foreign infection. It’s how you humans say, when you get the flu shot, your body will recognize it so when the actual thing attacks, then your body knows what to expect._

**_That was during the flu season and I thought I had the flu. Although I couldn’t quite understand how I had a sudden hankering for chocolate._ **

Hybrid laughed. Jane muffled a yawn with her hand, taking large swallow of coffee before she went back to the bathroom to check on Eddie. He was still passed out but was now snoring lightly. She sat down on the edge of the tub and felt his forehead. It was almost back to normal and his glands were normal now. **_You think I could move him? His temperature seems to be back to normal. I just don’t want him to get pneumonia._**

_That’s_ _fine; I’ll try and help the best I can._ She reached out to gently shake his shoulders, but upon doing so, she slipped and fell into the bath tub, landing, not only on top of Eddie but in the cold water with a loud splash.

            This seemed to bring Eddie back to his surroundings as he saw Jane shake water out of her eyes and was now drenched with cold water in her pajamas. **_Way to make an entrance Jane,_** she thought, ignoring Hybrid’s high-pitched laughter that rang in her head.

            “You alright?” Eddie asked, a small smile playing on the edges of his lips although he was trying hard to keep a straight face. “Yeah I’m fine,” said Jane, struggling to get up although it was difficult. “I was leaning over to wake you up, but I leaned too far forward and landed on top of you.” She felt her cheeks burn even under the cold water. **Oh god, what the hell does he think of me now?**

“Why were you trying to wake me up?” he asked. “I figured you were well enough to be moved now that your temperature has been normal for a while,” said Jane quickly, her cheeks burning brighter and brighter with each word she said. “But anyways, I tried to wake you up and when I went to go shake you awake, I fell in. It was an honest accident I swear to god.” He pressed a hand to her mouth, silencing her.

            “It’s alright,” he said. “There’s no need to be embarrassed. But you are right, I would rather be in a warm bed rather than in here. Besides,” he laid a hand on her cheek. “I feel much better now.”

            She hesitated before she smiled before, she wasn’t sure who leaned in first, but suddenly they were kissing. She felt his hands wrap around her waist, pulling her into his lap so she was straddling him, knees on either side of his hips. She felt her arms wrap around his neck, pulling her closer to him as she felt his hands, cold but somehow still alluring, sneak underneath her wet shirt to touch the skin of her lower back, but never going much further than her waist.

            She chuckled as she pulled away. “Um,” she said. “Maybe now’s not the best time to be- intimate like this.”

            “I understand,” he said. “Plus, I probably exposed you to whatever I have.” **You have no idea how far off you are there Eddie** _,_ thought Jane. “I think I should be fine. I got my flu shot not long before I came down here and my immune system seems to be pretty good,” she said. “But I’m not going to risk it. I’ll make sure you’re much better before we do anything else.”

            They made their way to the bedroom, where Jane gave him some clothes that he could wear for the night. “These were my brothers,” said Jane when Eddie gave her a sideways look at the clothes she gave him. “I was going to donate them while I was back at home. But under the circumstances, I think they should work. They might be a little small but I’m sure they’ll be fine.” She handed him a pair of black sweat pants and a white shirt.

            She excused herself to change out of her soaking wet clothes and into a pair of black sweat pants and a black tank top. By the time she got back, Eddie was already dressed and waiting for her in bed. She crawled in next to him.

            “How are they?” she asked. “They’re not tight I hope?” He shrugged. “They’re not bad, but it’s better than nothing.” He turned to look at her. “You said these belonged to your brother at one point in time?”

            She nodded. “He works as a paramedic, so he likes to keep himself in shape. Unfortunately, he put on a lot more muscle than he realized and none of his clothes fit him anymore. He got himself a whole new wardrobe and I told him I would donate his clothes to a charity while I was still in Canada. I was going to do that while I was back at home, but I forgot all about it until it was time for me to move.”

            He turned to look at her. “I’ve always wondered,” he said. “How could someone like you with a business diploma have taken such a liking to the medical field to become a Clinic Assistant?”

            “Oh that,” said Jane, smiling a little. “I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with my job. Originally, I was planning on working there until I got a job more in my field. What I hadn’t counted on was how much I loved the field. I mean I had a basic understanding because my mom is a nurse, but for some reason, I don’t know - I just fell in love with the field. Plus, my brother’s a paramedic now, so pretty much everybody but my dad is in the medical field. He can’t stand needles or blood. It makes him sick.”

            She laughed at a private joke. “But anyways,” she said. “I learn something new about the medical field every day, plus I pick up tips on how to treat certain illnesses.”

“Such as?”

“Fever, flu, ear infections, sprains, chicken pox, that sort of thing.” She looked up at him. “That’s kind of how I know how to treat with some of my home remedies,” said Jane. “Plus, I always carry some medications with me whenever I go travelling somewhere. You never know when you might need it.”

He placed a hand around her shoulders, pulling himself closer to her. She felt a shiver run through him when his slightly colder skin came into contact with hers. “Either way I’m glad you were able to get me better,” he said. “I’m sorry I kept you up all night worrying about me.”

“Hey, it’s not a problem,” said Jane. “It’s all part of the job. I’m used to it.”

“But there’s still one thing that bothers me.”

“Oh?”

            “How did you know where I lived? I mean that night I got hurt we just stopped outside of the apartment, but I didn’t say my apartment number. How did you know which apartment I was in?”

“I’m not sure really,” said Eddie, frowning as he tried to remember what had happened the previous night. “But I seemed to remember your scent and I was able to find your apartment from there. By the way, what’s with the name **Bev Gordonson?** I saw the name outside our door before I came crashing in.”

“They haven’t gotten around to changing the nameplate yet,” said Jane. “I only moved in a few days ago. They told me they’ll put my name on nameplate in about a month or so.”

**_Oh my god, he followed my scent, could he have smelled Hybrid on me while he was running around after being infected by Venom? What if he knows I’m infected too?_ **

Her thoughts were cut off when she felt Eddie’s breath on her shoulder. She looked over to find him sniffing her shoulder. “What are you doing?” she asked. “I’m trying to see how I was able to follow your scent,” he said. He leaned back. “You don’t smell. I mean, you have a nice smell, but it’s just not the smell that I was following the night before.”

“How’s it different?” she asked. “It smelled – of pain and there was something else there that I can’t put my finger on.” He looked up at her. “You’re not in pain are you?”

“Of course I’m not,” said Jane. “I mean other than my injury from two nights ago.” She held up her arm to show the bandage. He shook his head. “I’m not talking about that,” he said. “It seemed more of a – mental pain. Maybe of both hurt and pain. I mean if those kinds of pain had a smell to it.”

“How can you tell I had mental pain?” she asked. “I’m not sure,” said Eddie. “But I could just – tell. I’m not sure how else to describe it.” Jane leaned her head back against the headboard as she took a deep breath. “Fine,” she said. “I had depression for a bit, which probably would explain that mental pain.” She looked up at him, “But my mother’s side of the family has a history of depression, so unfortunately I got diagnosed with depression at an early age. It started hitting me while I was starting high school. That was a nightmare in itself.”

“That’s terrible,” he said. “You were diagnosed with depression at such an early age. How did you cope with it?”

“Once I was able to figure out what was going on,” continued Jane. “I booked an appointment with my family doctor and told him what was going on, so he was able to prescribe me some medication. My depression has gotten a lot better since then. But I did hurt myself a few times but eventually I stopped that. I just felt really sad all the time and it was getting kind of annoying.” She broke off when Eddie yawned. “I’m sorry, I’m probably keeping you from getting your sleep,” said Jane. “No, no -it’s f-fine,” said Eddie, although he yawned hugely again.

Jane smiled. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get some sleep.” Jane turned off on the lights with her phone, before snuggling under the blankets. She turned over on her side, but just before she fell asleep, Jane felt Eddie’s chest press against her back and his arms were around her in a gentle embrace, his breath tickling the back of her neck. Jane didn’t seem to mind it; on the contrary, she seemed to be to enjoy it.

_“Aw, my host is in love,”_ said Hybrid in a teasing tone. **_“Oh, shut up Hybrid,”_** thought Jane as she fell asleep.

 

 

 

 

Jane awoke the next morning with her head resting on Eddie’s bicep and his breath tickling the back of her neck, but Jane didn’t mind. _How was your night sleeping beauty?_ Asked Hybrid. **_It was alright, I mean we didn’t do much besides sleep. It’s nice to have human company for once._**

_I wouldn’t say that there my love._

**_What do you mean?_ **

_He woke up during the night and he seemed to be staring at you while you were asleep. I thought he was up to something so I kept an eye on him to make sure he wasn’t going to do anything to you._

**_Did he do anything?_ **

_Of course not, he just was staring at you with a loving gaze in his eye. I thought we was going to take advantage of you at first, but he just pulled you closer to him and kissed you on the forehead before he fell asleep._

**_I take it that since I didn’t wake up with you strangling Eddie that he didn’t do anything._ **

_You’re correct on that part there my love. Although I would have done more than strangle him. He would not have lasted very long with me around._

Jane winced at the dark tone Hybrid’s voice had taken on. **_Anyways, do you think Venom was talking to him last night? I mean there had to be another reason he was watching me sleep last night._**

_Or maybe he loves you? I mean, you two definitely act like you guys are in love. What else could it be?_

**_I don’t know, he might not feel the same way I’m feeling towards him, but I’m not sure it’s_ ** _love **I’m feeling.**_

_If it’s not love you’re feeling, you definitely have strong feeling for – oh, he’s waking up._

            Hybrid’s voice vanished as Eddie groaned, stirring beneath her before she felt his lips touch her shoulder. “Morning.”

            “Morning,” she said, grabbing at his hands, squeezing them gently. “How are you feeling?”

            “Much better, although I am hungry,” said Eddie. She turned over so was facing him. “Alright,” she said. “You got a craving for anything in particular?” He brought his head towards her neck, brushing his lips along her neck, slowly making his way up to her mouth. She felt her heart rate speeding up when his lips touched hers. She felt his arm wrap around her and shifting his weight so he was laying on top of her, although he did so carefully so she felt none of his weight. His lips were soft, and his kiss was passionate.

            His tongue forced itself into her mouth, mingling with hers. It was only when her stomach started to growl that they separated. “Ok maybe it’s time for breakfast,” he said. “Okay,” she said, sitting up as Eddie returned to his side of the bed. “What’s on the menu?” he asked.

            “Depends,” said Jane, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “Do you feel like eggs and bacon or eggs and bagels?” “Hmmm, probably eggs and bagels.”

“Okay, what do you like for eggs? Fried, scrambled or poached?”

“Scrambled.”

“Okay and what do you want on your bagel? Roast beef, chicken, turkey, avocado or a breakfast sandwich?”

“Oh, that’s a tough one.” He thought about it. “What’s on the breakfast sandwich?”

“Eggs and bacon with a slice of cheese. It was one of my mom’s breakfast specialties.”

“I’ll take one of those.”

“Excellent. I’ll get started on it.”

            She got up, pulling down her shirt to cover her sak yant tattoo on her lower back. “Do you need any help?” he asked.

“No, I got it. You can relax.” She slipped out of bed; leaving Eddie tangled in the sheets and padded barefoot towards the kitchen. **_Woah momma that was intense!_**

_I’ll say! Your hormone levels were through the roof! I’m surprised you didn’t –_

**_Okay, enough Hybrid,_** she thought as she got the necessary ingredients from the fridge. **_We didn’t do much besides kiss._**

_A **very** passionate kiss at best._

**_Hybrid!_ **

_I’m only teasing my love._

            She groaned, shaking her head and went to preparing breakfast. She was in the middle of working on the bagels when she felt strong arms wrap around her waist and pressing a kiss into her shoulder. “Hey beautiful, mind if I help you?”

She chuckled. “Sure, if you want to get the coffee ready?”

“Sure.” He glanced around at the white kitchen with marble white counter tops. “Where’s the coffee?”

“In the cupboard above the machine and the mugs are in the next cupboard over.”

“Nice place,” he said, grabbing the coffee container and two mugs. “Very modern.”

“Thanks,” said Jane. “The real estate agent recommended it. The owner just remodeled just before I applied to rent the place. Thankfully there wasn’t that much of a waiting list.”

“Certainly better than my apartment,” muttered Eddie. “Oh come on, it can’t be that bad,” said Jane, dishing some scrambled eggs onto a plate. “You haven’t heard my neighbor across the hall. He’s been playing his guitar at top volume nearly every night. It’s driving me nuts.” He turned to look over at her. “I forgot what a quiet night sounded like. I’m sure it must be quiet on this side.”

Jane smiled a little bit when he mentioned the neighbor playing guitar; it brought her back to when she had first been infected with Hybrid. Her brother had been home during the Christmas holidays and they had been spending the night at her parents. He had been playing a video game in the next room which had included a lot of high pitched and a lot of loud noises that made Jane get a headache. She banged on the door loud enough for him to hear and asked him to politely turn down the game.

Unfortunately, her brother who had been drinking, told her to buzz off. Jane had felt Hybrid take over, taking her to look on like a possessed form of her, growling and baring her teeth at him. Thankfully he had turned down the video game, and he had been so hungover the next morning that he didn’t remember the altercation between him and Jane.

She shook her head, bringing herself back to her surroundings. “It’s not so bad at night,” said Jane, picking up two pieces of bacon and putting it on top of a bagel with scrambled eggs. “It’s the morning’s that are rough. Everyone’s so noisy at six in the morning, but at least it dies down after a few hours. It’s usually by ten, everything gets quiet. At least the noise is quiet enough that I can tune it out if I really wanted.”

“What do you take in your coffee?” he asked. “Cream please. No sugar,” she said. She placed a piece of avocado on top of hers before placing the second half of the bagel on top before cutting it in half. She turned around and placed the plate on the island. “Here you go,” she said. “Looks good,” he said, handing her a coffee mug.

“Thanks,” she said, taking a sip of coffee before taking a bite of her bagel. It was only when she felt him staring that she glanced back up, blinking when he was frowning at something, he appeared to be deep in thought.

“You okay?” she asked. “It’s nothing,” he said quickly. “Then why are you glaring at that coffee mug like it just insulted you?” she asked. He glanced back up at her. “This little voice in my head won’t shut up,” he said. “Voice?” she asked. “What kind of voice? What is it saying to you?”

“It keeps saying ‘in pain’. I don’t know what it means by that.”

“Why would it be saying that?” she asked. “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s just every time I get around you, it just keeps saying ‘in pain’. Although-“

“Although what?”

“Although I woke up last night and it said, ‘I like her. You’re much better with her than you were with Anne.’”

“Anne?” she asked. “Your ex-fiancé, right?” He nodded. “Anyways, I just don’t know what made me think of it last night.” “Have you always had that little voice talking to you?” she asked.

_Definitely talking to him._

**_I already figured out that part there, Hybrid. At least we now we know what he was thinking._ **

  “Not until recently,” he said. “I was out on an assignment to gather – information on the Life Foundation and –“ He broke off. “Dora Skirth asked you to gather some information to expose the truth about the kind of person he really i?” suggested Jane.

He looked up at her. “How did you know that?”

“Dora told me,” she said. “She was really worried about what Carlton Drake was doing and she wanted to get the truth out on him. There was only one journalist she wanted to enlist with the truth and that was you.”

“How do you know Dora?” he asked. “I met her about a year ago,” said Jane. “Anyways, I was approached by Dora one afternoon at my old job and offered me a job at the Life Foundation. She told me that because it was a step above my own career and in a different country, they would let me try out the job for two weeks and see how I liked it. At the time, I was absolutely thrilled at being offered such an opportunity. Looking back on it, I was making a huge mistake, in some cases but not all of it. But in the end I agreed to come down for a two week trial period.

“I was able to rent an apartment, get time off of work, got some of my other affairs in order and I was on my way. Dora welcomed with open arms and everybody seemed to be very polite at first, and everything was perfect. Anyways, I ran into the bastard himself.”

“You met him?” he asked. “Yep,” said Jane. “All six feet of him. He took a liking to me right away, even if I was a newbie. Let me tell you he was definitely trying to flirt with me, even while I was working. Anyways, he asked me out one afternoon after work and I agreed. It didn’t take long before we started dating, but the relationship didn’t last long. I ended up breaking up with him and moving back, since then I haven’t looked back.”

“What made you break up with him?” asked Eddie. “He was more interested in trying to make the world a better place, but he hardly had any time for me in the end. I just got sick of being a doormat. Anyways, I left because I didn’t want everyone to find out that I dated the CEO of the Life Foundation. I didn’t want anyone to think of so little of me.”

“You did the right thing,” said Eddie. “I had no patience with the guy either. He was a total crook, and I tried to call him out on it in an interview, but I think I did more damage than good.”

  “I heard about that too,” said Jane. “She said you not only got fired but your fiancé broke up with you too. I don’t know how she heard about that, but she did.” She reached out and placed a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry about you and Anne.”

“I guess it was my fault,” he said. “If I hadn’t pushed – “

“Don’t say things like that Eddie,” she said. “You were only trying to expose Carlton Drake for the crook that he is, you just went about it the wrong way. He’s not the type of guy that’s going to admit that he’s a crook in a single interview.”

“How do you mean?” asked Eddie. “You got to get incriminating evidence on the guy and then you can question him about it. And I mean really good evidence, like pictures, video evidence, that sort of thing.” A sudden realization seemed to appear on his face. “You know,” he said. “I might just have the thing.”

He disappeared from the kitchen and came back a minute later with his phone and something that looked like a USB drive. “What’s that you got there?” she asked. “Dora gave me this,” said Eddie holding up the USB. “Told me that some hacker called Lisbeth was able to get the information I needed on Carlton Drake.”

“Are you going to use it?” asked Jane. “I don’t know,” said Eddie, staring back at the USB. “It seems like something that’s too good to be true.”

“I’m sure Dora would want you to use it,” said Jane. “And I’m sure Lisbeth would want you to as well. I’m sure it took a lot of time to get that information.” **_Please tell me he’s going to use it,_** she thought. **_I didn’t just spend two days on working on this only for him not to use it. It would seem like such a waste of time._**

Suddenly Jane’s phone rang. “Sorry excuse me,” she said, grabbing her phone. The caller ID read ‘IT – Department’, but Jane immediately knew who was phoning her. “Hello?”

_“Lisbeth it’s Wasp,”_ said a Swedish female voice on the other line. _“Listen I got some news about your friend Dora.”_

“What’s going on?”

_“I just heard from Knox this morning. She’s dead.”_

It was as though all the air suddenly went from her lungs, leaving her breathless and cold. She controlled her expression before she responded. “What? I’ll be right there.” Wasp knew what Jane meant by that, it was code word that meant ‘I’ll call you back in a few minutes’.

_“Sure, call you back in ten.”_

“Okay. Bye.”

“What’s going on?” asked Eddie. “There’s been a breach at work and they want everyone there,” said Jane. “I’m sorry I got to go.” She took off towards the bedroom. “When do you think you’ll be back?” asked Eddie. “I hope not too long,” said Jane as she walked into the closet shutting the door behind her, Eddie following in to her room behind her. “A few hours at most, I just hope it’s not going to be an all-day thing. I’ll let you know when I get back. Or do you have something you want to do today?” She quickly changed into black leggings, a navy blue shirt and black knee length boots.

“I think I got some errands to run today,” said Eddie as Jane came out, running a brush through her hair. “Ok, do you want me to text you when I’m free? I’m sure it won’t take too long.”

“Sure,” said Eddie, picking up his clothes from last night. “I mean, we could go out for coffee again? Or do you want to try something different tonight?”

“Should we say dinner and a movie?” asked Jane, who was in the middle of putting on her foundation. “Sounds good to me,” said Eddie. He leaned in as Jane was checking over her make up to make sure she didn’t miss anything. “By the way, you look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she said, turning around to kiss him. “Are you sure you have to go?” he asked in between kisses. “They said everyone, plus this is something important, so unfortunately I can’t skip out.” She leaned in and whispered, “But I’ll make it up to you tonight I promise.” She placed a hand on his chest.

She felt her phone go off, once again the caller display reading ‘IT – Department’. “I’m sorry I have to go,” she said. She quickly kissed Eddie, grabbed her keys and ran out to the car. Just as she got in her Rouge, she felt her phone go off again. She turned on the vehicle, which allowed the call to go through on the Bluetooth speakers.

“ _You took your time there Lisbeth.”_

“Sorry Wasp, I had company. So how did Knox find out about Dora?”

_“He was able to hack in through that server you installed in Thailand. I would have thought you have kept up to date on your own assignment.”_

“Some of us have a social life Wasp. In some cases, we actually have people that we see and sometimes, share our lives with. But that’s beside the point, how did Knox find out about Dora?”

_“He’s not sure what made him do it, he just had a feeling to go check out the Life Foundation. He saw there was new information and one of them was an autopsy report.”_

“What was cause of death?”

_“They said ‘death by undetermined means’. I don’t know if you know what that means.”_

**_He probably used her as a test subject. I’m no medical examiner and I can tell you that much just from that diagnosis._ **

She tears swimming in her eyes, but she blinked them away. “Did the report say anything else?”

_“Unfortunately not, there was an email sent to the legal office that Dora died of a heart attack while on the job but there was nothing that the hospital staff could have done to save her. Her family was to be notified. They’re going to pay out what she had in her life insurance, which was about $50,000.”_

  “Will that be enough for the family though? I mean she did mention that she had two kids.”

_“You would hope so. Why? What are you thinking?”_

Jane sat thinking for a minute, before she finally made up her mind. “Wasp, I need you to access one of my accounts in Costa Rica and transfer $300,000 to the family’s account. Make up a story that you’re a lawyer, there’s been a mistake with the life insurance and that the company is paying six times for what it offered before due to her having two kids. It should keep them satisfied for a few years.”

Wasp was silent as she processed Jane’s words.

_“Are you sure that you want to do that? I mean, what if you get caught?”_

“That’s why I’m asking you Wasp,” said Jane. “You’re good at stuff like that. Plus you do owe me that favor from England there.”

_“Of course I remember, like I told you before Lisbeth, I do keep my promises. Anything else you need?”_

“Two things actually,” said Jane. “I need you to ask Knox to keep an eye on the Life Foundation’s data for me and let me know if anything interesting comes in. I’m looking to see if they have anything related to Eddie Brock.”

_“Anything in particular?”_

“I’m worried that Dora told Carlton Drake about him, so I need to keep an eye it and make sure he’s not tracked down.”

_“Want me to ask Trinity to tap his phone and GPS?”_

“You took the words right out of my mouth there Wasp.”

_“I’ll get to work on that right away. I’ll inform Trinity about the phone tapping. How soon do you need it?”_

“Urgently, I got to make sure Eddie’s alright. He said he needed to do some errands today, but I just need to make sure that he’s not in danger.”

_“Got it, I’ll let Trinity know right away.”_

“Thanks Wasp. I owe you one.”

            Wasp then disconnected. Jane looked around at her surroundings. She hadn’t realized where she had been driving, but she found herself on the piers that often lead tourists out to Alcatraz Island. She recognized the piers when she came here two years ago with her family.

She parked her car and put her head down on the top of the steering wheel, before she felt hot tears flow from her eyes.

            She felt a warm tendril brush her arm. “Hybrid leave me alone please,” she said. _You’re sad. I just want to comfort you._ “You know I don’t do well with people touching me while I’m crying,” she said, wiping her eyes. The tendril retracted. _Oh, my apologizes, I didn’t reali-_

            “Hybrid I just want to be left alone.” The firm tone in her voice seemed to get through to Hybrid, because a second later, his voice vanished along with the tendril. She was finally left alone to grieve for the loss of her friend.

            She wasn’t sure how long it took before she heard the phone rang again, but by then, she had already cried herself dry. She raised her head, wiped her wet face before she answered her phone. “Hi Trinity, what’s going on?”

_“I was able to get your boyfriend’s cell phone tapped,”_ said an English male voice on the other line. “He’s not my boyfriend,” said Jane quickly.

_I think he might be now, you two did sleep together._

“Shh!” Jane whispered, thankfully she didn’t say it loud enough that Trinity didn’t hear.

_“Oh – well, pardon me then. Anyways I thought I should let you know, he’s at the hospital right now.”_

Jane sat upright, her stomach dropping. “Which hospital and what’s he doing there?” she demanded. _“I don’t know but he was there over an hour ago. Do you want me to hack his medical records?”_ “Sure,” she said.

**_I don’t get it, he was fine with me when I left about an hour ago._ **

_You left more than hour ago sweetheart._

Jane checked the time on the dashboard and realized she had been gone for three hours. “Where is he now Trinity?”

_“He’s still there,”_ said Trinity. _“I’m not too sure how long he’s been there for. Do you want me to hack his file?”_

“That might be helpful,” said Jane. **_It might give me a better understanding of how he ended up there in the first place._** “I’ll send you the file. Can you tell me his name and date of birth?”

“Edward Brock Junior, date of birth January 21, 1989,” said Jane. _“Thanks for the information,”_ said Trinity. _“I’ll send you the file, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”_ “Thanks Trinity,” said Jane. “I owe you one.”

The line disconnected. **_What do I do now? Should I head to the hospital? Or should I just wait and see if he comes back?_**

_I would wait it out,_ said Hybrid. _I mean they would find out if you’re lying if you show up there and they said they never called you._

**_That’s true. I guess I’ll get something to eat and wait._** She turned on the car and headed back towards her apartment. **_Got a craving for anything in particular?_**

_Chinese?_

“We’re doing that for supper.”

_“Something with seafood.”_

“We could try at seafood restaurant down at the bay We had dinner the one night a few years ago and the food was fantastic.”

_“I’m fine with that. Crab and lobster, mmmm.”_

“Alright, alright. Enough of your drooling or I’m going to have drool coming out of my ears.”

They stopped at a local seafood café where Jane ordered three entrees that consisted of crab legs, oysters, and lobsters that came with fries, rice and onion rings. By the end of the lunch, Jane couldn’t shake the feeling that she was missing something. Thankfully Trinity was able to send her a copy of Eddie’s medical records, which she read through with interest.

According to the records, Eddie had some sort of MRI, but there was something on the scan that was causing the doctor some concern. She played through the MRI scan and was surprised when she saw a black mass in the chest cavity. “That shouldn’t be there,” said Jane, pointing at the black mass. “That’s not normal. That must be Venom that’s showing up on the scan. No wonder the doctor was showing concern on the reading.”

_How do you know that’s not supposed to be there?_

“I have a basic knowledge of human anatomy,” said Jane. “That was part of my training when I became a clinic assistant, and an MRI can tell you if somethings not quite right.” She played the footage again and pointed out certain areas. “Like this is the heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, spleen and his intestines. Those are all normal.” She reversed the footage so they were now looking at the chest cavity. “This black mass is not normal,” said Jane. “Anyone would say that’s a – well –“

_Parasite?_

“Exactly,” said Jane. “Now the doctor might try and get rid of that with medications, but you and I both know that’s not going to work.”

_Never going to happen, not even for a split second._

“I agree,” said Jane. She clicked back to read over the visit. “But why on earth would he see a doctor? He told me he was feeling better. I mean he felt better, so why-“

_He probably went after that slut Anne._

Jane was totally shocked when Hybrid said the word ‘slut’, she had never heard him use that term before. He was usually polite when he about other humans, but to have him say that –

“Why the foul language all of a sudden Hybrid? That’s not like you at all.”

_I just have a feeling that she’s a slut that’s all._

“How can you tell if she’s a slut if you’ve never met her?”

_“Same way you humans talk about people before you actually meet them. In my opinion, she’s a slut.”_

At first Jane was confused but then she understood. “Oh, I see what you mean now. But yeah I agree with you, although I wouldn’t necessarily call her a slut, she’s more of a hag although I do understand her reasons for being one.”

She then headed back to her vehicle, all the while keeping an eye on Eddie’s phone. He was back in his apartment. She let out a sigh of relief. She texted him.

 

**Everything ok?**

The reply came back within a few minutes.

 

**Everything is fine; I just had to run home to grab something. Did you get off work early?**

**Yeah, false alarm. Sorry it took so long, we were here for an hour before it was announced that it was a false alarm. Anyways, are we still on for tonight?**

**Actually I feel like staying in tonight, so should we do dinner and Netflix instead? Doctor’s orders that I stay in tonight.**

**Doctor’s orders? Did you get sick again? You were fine when I left this morning.**

**Apparently my symptoms came back. I sort of – well it’s embarrassing.**

**Do you want to talk about it?**

**Maybe later tonight, right now I just want to get some sleep. Should we say your place at 8?**

**Sure, what do you want to have? Chinese? Pizza?**

**Chinese sounds good.**

**Ok, see you at 8.**

“At least we’ll find out when he comes here,” said Jane, heading back to her apartment.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be changing the warnings after this chapter due to there being a sex scene in the next chapter, so head's up for the next chapter.


	7. Claimed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: SEX SCENE IN THIS CHAPTER, PLEASE ADVERT YOU EYES IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SCARRED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Chapter 6

  

            By the time Jane got back to her apartment, she felt both emotionally drained and exhausted. She felt as though all the energy had been drained from her, although she felt fine physically. She looked around at the messy apartment and decided to distract herself by cleaning. Thankfully the cleaning was able to distract her long enough for a few more hours to pass by, although Hybrid did have a bit of a freak out when the vacuum was turned on, but thankfully Jane was able to calm him down before he could break the vacuum. 

 By the time four o’clock rolled around, the apartment was clean and a take-out order for Chinese food on the way to her place, with courtesy of skipthedishes.com. 

            By the time Eddie arrived at 8, Jane was serving the Chinese food onto plates. “So what made you change your mind about tonight?” she asked as they settled on the couch, plates of Chinese resting on their laps. “I just was feeling sick, although I started feeling it after I left here this morning. I don’t know why, but anyways, I was trying to track down my ex-fiancé to talk to her about Carlton Drake and let her know what I found. Anyways, I kind of went nuts while I was in the restaurant.” His cheeks turned pink.

            “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” said Jane quickly, although she was silently praying that he would tell her. Eddie seemed to hesitate before he sighed. “I sort of ate lobster off of someone’s plate, and then I leapt into the lobster tank and began eating a live lobster.” He looked up at her, expecting her to laugh.

            “Believe it or not, I’ve actually done that before,” said Jane, a small smile tugging on the edges of his lips. “You have?” asked Eddie, surprised at her response. “And I did it while I was drunk,” said Jane, holding up her hands. “My friends and I went to this little seafood restaurant in Florida and we sitting right next to the lobster tank. Anyway, my friend was complaining about her lobster wasn’t coming quick enough so I said, ‘Hold on there honey, I’ll get you a lobster’. So I jumped in the tank and grabbed a 5-pound lobster before coming out and slamming on the table in front of her and said, ‘You wanted a lobster? Here’s your stinkin’ lobster’.”

            Eddie laughed. “Oh my god, you did that while you were drunk?” he asked. “That’s hilarious.”

            Jane smiled. “Yeah I’ll admit that it was pretty funny,” said Jane. “But since then I’ve made sure to keep by drinking to a minimum and to avoid acting out in public while drunk. I’m just thankful it didn’t end up on YouTube. That would have been a funny title ‘Drunk Customer goes Crazy for Lobster’. I’m sure Gordon Ramsey would have been pleased.” She waited until Eddie had finished laughing before he carried on with his story.

            “Anyways, I was then brought to the hospital and they did an MRI on me before I was discharged,” said Eddie. He put a hand on his head. “I got a little claustrophobic and the loud noise gave me a headache.” 

“It’s okay, I get a little bit claustrophobic too,” she said. “I had a bad experience with an MRI and I did not enjoy it.”

            “What happened?” 

            “I sort of fell asleep while I was getting a scan, you know, because of the drug they put me on to relax me. But I was pretty much tired due to me working my Friday shift that day. Anyways, I had a nightmare and I started kicking and screaming. You would have thought I was getting murdered the way I was screaming.”

            “Oh man,” he said. “That must have been rough.” 

            “Yeah,” she said. “I mean I had to do it again a few days later, at least this time I was more alert.”

            There was a slight pause as they took a minute to eat their food. Just as they were finishing up, there was a loud clap of thunder, the noise echoing throughout the apartment. Jane covered her ears. “You okay?” asked Eddie, pulling her close to him. “I’m fine,” said Jane. “That thunder was a lot louder than I expected that’s all.”

            “You’re not scared of thunderstorms are you?”

            Jane shook her head. “I’m not scared; I just wasn’t expecting it to be raining tonight.” She looked up at him. “Are you?”

            “Not really. It’s more of fog I’m afraid of.”

“Fog?”

“Yeah, it was one of my fears growing up. I had nightmares about getting lost in a fog and some evil monster coming to take me.”

            He looked over at her. “It’s kind of silly now that I think about it,” he said. “There was nothing to be afraid of. I kind of outgrew it as I got older.”

            She smiled. “Well now that you’re older, you know there are no monsters.”

“Yeah that’s true.” 

“But then again, monsters aren’t the only ones we should be afraid of,” she said in a grim tone. He looked sideways at her. “Why? What makes you say that?”

            Jane hesitated, not too sure how to make her point. For years, she had always viewed people as normal and other creatures from outer space as evil, but upon her encounters with Carlton Drake and Hybrid, Hybrid was even more like a kind compassionate human despite his form while Drake had been the embodiment of evil that she never would have thought possible. It had changed her perspective on a lot of things, not all humans were good and not all creatures that came from other planet were all bad.

            “The only monsters are us. Murders, rapists, arsonist… they’re the real beasts… so far from humanity that they’re no longer capable of feeling compassion or guilt. They’re the ones we should really be afraid of. But whether they’re lurking in the woods… or fog or the darkness of our cellars… it’s all irrelevant. You can’t predict what happens. You can’t do anything to stop it. There is only one way… You turn into a beast yourself… and like them you show no mercy.”

            There was silence when Jane finished speaking. “Woah, where did that come from?” asked Eddie. “I just don’t like murderers,” said Jane quickly. “They’re nothing but – _parasites._ But anyways, I just had a bad experience with one of my friends and her ex-boyfriend. I mean, I thought he was the perfect boyfriend for her and they were the perfect couple. It was only when she came to the clinic that I saw what happened, he had beaten her and threw her down the stairs. I was in utter shock when it happened. She asked me if I could help her, and I agreed. When we later confronted the boyfriend and he showed no remorse and acted like the whole thing was a big joke to him. I felt utterly disgusted with the whole thing.” She thought about it before she added darkly, “If I had it my way, I would have given him the same treatment. I mean the guy beat the crap out of his girlfriend.”

            She lowered her head. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that last part,” she said. “I don’t want to scare you off. I’m not like this normally it’s just -” She was unable to continue. What must he think of her now?

            “No it’s alright,” he said. “I get it. You had a bad experience and it’s made you a little more guarded. But still,” He placed a hand on her knee and Jane looked up. “I would never hurt you. You’re now the most important thing to me.”

_ Aw, I like him. He might have Venom inside of him, but still- _

            Jane leaned forward and kissed him. “Thanks, Eddie,” she said. “I really appreciate it.”

            They had finished eating before cleaning up. They decided to watch a scary movie on Netflix, but just half an hour into the movie, Jane started falling asleep. “Isn’t the whole point of the movie to be scared?” asked Eddie as Jane snuggled in on his chest. “I know it’s supposed to,” said Jane. “But it’s not scaring me enough. I’ve seen people getting murdered by chopsticks of all things and I couldn’t sleep for days.”

“Should we watch something else?”

“If you want to, or do you want to keep watching?”

“Nah, this movie really stinks actually. I can see why you’re falling asleep.”

            They settled on _The Shape of Water,_ which kept their attention. It was during the scene where Eliza was meeting the creature that Hybrid spoke.

_ Does this film remind you of anything? _

**_ My relationship with you? _ **

_ Close enough, but I was merely talking about the title characters. The girl falls in love with the monster, not the other way around. A monster falling in love with the human. _

**_ I think you been watching too much of ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’. _ **

_ Not my point my love. I’m referring to the fact that you both are dating a monster without realizing it. I mean you’re dating a monster, and he’s dating a monster but the only difference is you know he’s a monster but he doesn’t. Plus you yourself know that you’re a monster, but he doesn’t. _

**_ That’s a good reference you made there, and you are right about that. I fell in love with a monster without realizing it as he did as well.  _ **

**__ ** She looked up at Eddie to find him staring at her before placing a hand on her cheek. “Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are in this lighting?” he asked, his fingers running along the lines of her cheekbone.

 “You might have a few times,” said Jane, rubbing a hand on his chest, feeling his muscles under her hands. And felt the steady beating of his heart, which was starting to pick up “Although you still look pretty cute to me.” She could definitely feel the anticipation building within her now, a knot forming in her stomach. He tilted her face up to meet his, his muscles ripple with the motion. **_Hybrid would you mind giving us some privacy?_**

_ Not a problem there, lovebirds. I’ll leave you alone. _

            She felt her heartbeat begin to pick up when he leaned forward, his breath fanning across her face. “I hope I’m not going too fast?” he asked. 

 “Not at all,” she said before they leaned in and kissed. The kiss started out soft and tentative, before it turned heated and passionate, their tongues meeting.           

She felt his hands wrap around her waist, pulling her into his lap so she was straddling him, knees on either side of his hips. She felt her arms wrap around his neck, pulling her closer to him as she felt his hand, sneak underneath her shirt to touch the skin of her lower back, feeling the slightly raised skin of where her tattoos were while the other one wound his fingers through her hair. 

Jane felt her hands run underneath the hem of Eddie’s shirt, running her nails over his skin, tracing his highly defined muscle. She could feel him shudder underneath her. 

She could definitely feel her lust growing as well as her anticipation, it was a feeling she hadn’t felt before and she wanted more of it. Not just that, but a sudden heat was going through her. Now she was definitely turned on. “Bed?” 

“Oh yeah. Down the hall towards the right.” He grinned, hands slipping to her back. The next thing she knew, she was hoisted into the air, although she wrapped her legs around his waist. He chuckled, as he entered the bedroom and laying her gently on the covers, sliding forward until he was on top of her. She could feel his strong body nestle between her legs, before leaning down and kissing her neck.

He kissed down her jaw and towards her neck as she felt her head pull back, allowing him to continue. He continued with the assault on her neck before he began to fiddle with her shirt. 

Jane took the hint, lifting her arms off so it would be easier for Eddie to remove her shirt. It didn’t take very long for the clothes to start falling away, so by the time they were had resumed their passionate kissing; they were both in their undergarments. She could definitely feel her core throbbing almost painfully. She needed him. Now. 

Her thoughts were interrupted when he started kissing her again; Jane taking the opportunity to hug his toned form closer to hers as his searching hands slipped underneath her bra. She felt his hands unclasp her bra, allowing her breasts to be free.  She could feel his hungry eyes gazing over every feature of her body. “How is it that you’ve kept yourself hidden from me from so long?” asked Eddie in between kisses. “You’re even more beautiful than I thought.” 

“Thank you,” said Jane. “How is it you’ve kept this muscular figure hidden from me?” She ran a hand over his strong biceps. “Fair point,” he said. She smiled before leaning up to kiss him again. He opened his mouth to the kiss, surging to meet hers, tongue clashing in this suddenly rough kiss. She felt his hands slide down her stomach towards her underwear, gently pulling them down to the point where she was now completely exposed to him.

  He placed his lips on her neck and gently bit her, making her cry out, before letting out a sigh of pleasure. 

She writhed underneath him, grinding against him, the anticipation continuing to grow within her. “Are you sure?” he asked. “I’m absolutely sure,” she said. She felt him enter her slowly, as though being careful of not to hurt her. She could already feel herself tightening around him. It felt really good, she could feel the pleasure just singing through her veins at this point. She felt his hands slide into cover her own, his fingers weaving through her own. She could feel his teeth gently biting her shoulder before gently kissing her neck.

With each motion that his lower body brushes against her own, her legs that were wrapped around his waist tightened.

He growled as they felt the sensation, going harder and faster until she could feel an intense orgasm building within her. It wasn’t long before she felt herself coming undone. She suddenly felt himself still, sharp teeth biting into her shoulder as she felt something hot and wet spurt inside her. The orgasmic ecstasy bliss taking over their bodies as they held each other close in that moment, their breathing filling the room as they took a rest. 

It was a second before Eddie dropped down beside her, being careful not to crush her. “Wow,” she said, breathlessly. “You can say that again,” he said. He looked over at her. “Why didn’t we do that sooner?” 

“I guess we could have but I guess due to certain circumstances, it didn’t happen until right now,” said Jane, turning over on her side so she was facing him. He smiled, reaching out and tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. “Tired?” he asked. “A little,” she said. “What about you?”

“I’m okay for right now,” said Eddie, his hand tracing her hip. “But I just want to spend the night with you tonight.” Jane smiled. “Let me grab my blanket,” she said, jumping up, pulling on her shirt before heading out to the hallway. By the time she came back, Edie appeared to be dozing off. She smiled. “What a goof,” she said. “But he’s my goof.” 

 She threw the blanket down on the bed before she crawled in. She moved over and rested her head on his chest, his hand resting on his chest. She felt him place his hand on top of hers while placing the other on her back and nuzzled her affectionately.

“Thank you,” she said. “For what may I ask?” he asked. “I haven’t been with anyone like that in a long time,” she said. “I almost forgot what it felt like. You know, being intimate with someone you care about.” 

“Same here,” said Eddie. “I haven’t been intimate with anyone. It feels good to have that feeling and connection with another person.” He ran his hand up her back before he fell asleep, snoring lightly. Before Jane fell asleep, she felt satisfied for the first time in a long time and there had been no one there to disturb them, not Hybrid, not Venom, not even Carlton Drake or the Life Foundation. There was just her and Eddie.  

 


	8. Truth and Revellations

Chapter 7  
It was around two in the morning when the silence was broken by Joker’s high pitched laughter, which went on for a few seconds before breaking off and then starting back on again. She felt Eddie stir beneath her causing Jane to wake up. “Are you giggling in your sleep?” he asked sleepily.   
“It’s not me,” said Jane without opening her eyes, her voice slightly hoarse from sleep. “That’s my ringtone. It’s Joker from Batman.”  
“Who’s calling you at this time of night?”  
“Probably Joker himself. Where’s the Dark Knight when you need him?” She sat up, clutching the bedsheet closer to her naked chest before grabbing her phone to read the caller ID.  
BOB SAGET – JOKER

What the hell is he doing calling me at this hour? And Joker of all people!   
“Its work,” said Jane, slipping out of bed and quickly pulling on a long sleeve shirt and shorts. “I’ll be in the living room if you need me.” She quickly left the room, closing the door behind her and running over to her makeshift office in the back of the living room. Thankfully she answered the phone before it went to voicemail.  
“Joker,” she hissed through slightly gritted teeth. “Why the hell are you calling me at this time of night? Do you know what time it is?”  
“Well good morning to you to,” said a male voice with a slight French accent on the other end. “Anyways, are you by yourself or do you have company?”  
“I’ve got company,” said Jane irritably, quickly glancing over to find the bedroom door still closed and praying that Eddie wouldn’t come out. “Why the hell do you want to know that?”  
“Because I’ve got news about your boyfriend-“  
“He’s not my boyfriend. Look I’m not in a very good mood right now, so can you be quick about it.”  
“Yeesh, I can tell. I bet you got brimstone burning at your ears. But anyways, have you seen the news?”  
“No, why?”  
“Trust me. You’re going to want to see it. I’m sending you the video.”  
There was a loud ding in her ear; Jane found a video attachment in a text message. She clicked on the video and watched in open mouth horror as she saw a figure, whom she quickly recognized as Eddie, transform into an enormous, muscular figure with white gleaming white eyes, a mouth full of fangs and a long tongue. Not only did he transform himself into this creature, but he threw the guy he was holding down, but bit the second guy’s head off before taking off, crashing two or three police cars as he went.  
“Oh sweet Jesus,” said Jane when the video finished playing. So that was Venom, Eddie had transformed into Venom earlier that night and had bit off someone’s head before taking off as well as doing God knows what. That must have happened before he had arrived at her apartment. She clicked on the tab in the corner of the screen and the stats told her that the video was only uploaded around six that night, just two hours before he had arrived.   
A part of Jane wondered if Venom had got Eddie out of there safely before appearing to him like Hybrid had done to her. She remembered when she had arrived back in Canada, after that incident at work, Hybrid had appeared to her. It had scared the crap out of her, and at first, thought she was hallucinating from her illness. It wasn’t until she felt Hybrid’s tendrils stroke her cheek and wrap around her wrists, did she realize that the thing she was seeing was not a figment of her imagination.   
Suddenly something wet touched her right hand, breaking Jane from her train of thought. Jane looked down and saw something clear and wet on her hand, she raised her hand to examine it closer, and realizing quickly that it was saliva. “What the-“  
Another drop fell, this time landing on her head. She looked up and –   
“Oh sweet Jesus,” she said again. She lowered her head as she raised the phone to her ear, trying to act as casually as she could, although it didn’t stop the shaking in her fingers. “I’m going to have to call you back.” She took a deep breath to steady herself before she looked back up at the ceiling, but the huge form she had seen had vanished as though it hadn’t been there before. She looked around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. How could he have gotten away, unless-  
She then remembered that symbiotes had the ability to camouflage themselves, so did that mean Venom had the same ability? Just act normal, maybe he’ll come out.  
Jane made to head back to the bedroom but she was just halfway there when she thought she heard a ghostly laugh ring through the silent apartment. She then felt something hot and wet touch the middle of her back, leaving a long sticky trail of saliva up her back, she wheeled around but there was no one there. I feel like I’m in a horror movie, I’m being stalked by a monster before he comes out and attacks me. But what does someone do before they get attacked? Go looking for the source of the noise or go get something to drink like nothing had happened?  
She made her way towards the kitchen, keeping her ears pricked for any other sounds. She was just about there when she sensed someone was behind her. She whirled around, striking out with her foot but it came into contact with nothing but empty air. She then struck the air with her fists, before doing a quick tumble and ending with a kick, but still nothing appeared.  
What the heck? That usually works, so- She felt something grab her arm. And there he is.   
She whirled around and was about to strike with her fist when she felt something wrap around both of her shoulders and hoist her several feet into the air, so her feet were dangling several feet above the ground.  
She was now face to face with Venom. He was far bigger than her tiny frame of five foot five, at least 8 feet and looking very dangerous. He had enough muscles on him to crush her into a tin can if he wanted to. It was like waking up from a nightmare, only to find herself face to face with the creature from her nightmare in real life.  
A terrifying version of Jason Voorhees and the Look-See monster combined into one dark menacing figure. A long pink tongue falling from its jagged mouth, slithering like a snake.   
She felt her body tense in fright, trying hard to avoid the stabbing fear that was now gripping at her.   
So, this is what being face to face with a symbiote felt like, no wonder her victim passed out in sheer fright so many months ago. Anybody would be terrified when face to face with a monster like this.   
Hard to believe that this is the guy I was with all those hours ago, she thought before she shuddered at the thought of Venom being there while she and Eddie had made love.  
But then again, she supposed he would, considering passion and lust were strong emotions and symbiotes fed off of emotions like those ones. He looked at her with his blank, white eyes before a smile stretched his features.   
He was examining her like a predator would before eating its prey.   
“WELL WELL, LOOK WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN.” His voice sounding like rumbling thunder and promised pain, sending shivers up Jane’s spine. When he spoke, his big wet teeth glimmer through it’s now smiling lips as he tilts his head to study her.   
Jane thrashed, but it was no use, his grip on her was too strong and he had his hands wrapped around her tightly it was impossible for her to escape from. “Let me go,” she snarled, kicking her feet in the air but she came into contact with nothing but air. “I DON’T THINK SO MORSEL. YOU SEE I’VE GOT A CRAVING FOR –“  
He leaned in really close so he could smell her, his long tongue just grazing this skin of her neck. A shiver went through her just as she felt the hot breath tickle her neck. Jane leaned back, repulsed. Hybrid, wake up! I’m in serious trouble here!  
No response.  
“HUMAN FLESH. SUCH A TASTY LITTLE THING. NO WONDER YOU CAUGHT EDDIE’S ATTENTION.”  
Jane shivered. “Sick,” she whispered. “IT WOULD BE A SHAME FOR YOU TO BE KILLED. YOU’VE GOT SO MUCH POTENTIAL, IT WOULD ALMOST BE-“  
This time, his long tongue came into contact with the skin of her neck, tracing up her neck, along the artery, which was beating like a jackhammer before making its way up her jaw and licking the shell of her ear. A shiver ran though her, and for a moment, Jane felt –turned on.   
Okay, what the hell was going on with her, that wasn’t her usual response when something like this was happening. It was usually either fight or flight, but this- “CRUEL.” He laughed.  
What is wrong with me? I’m being turned on by this monster. Damn hormones.  
Don’t make any sudden movements my love, said Hybrid’s voice.   
Where the hell have you been?  
Sleeping, that is until I felt a sudden rush of lust and passion go through you. At first I didn’t understand what was going on. Now I know why.  
What do you think he wants to do?  
Either he wants to eat you –  
EUGH  
Or he wants to mate with you.   
And by mate, you mean-  
What you and Eddie did earlier, my love.  
“EUGH!” This time the words came out of her mouth and into the silence of the apartment. “That’s the last thing that I need.” Thankfully, it sounded as though she were talking to Venom rather than Hybrid, although she wondered if Venom still remembered that Hybrid was attached to her. Apparently he must have because a second later he said, “YOUR MARKS GONE.”  
“What mark?”  
“THE BITE MARK WE LEFT ON YOU, MAKING YOUR OURS. OUR MATE. YOU’RE OURS NOW. EVEN IF YOU ARE BONDED WITH ONE OF US.”   
Jane opened her mouth to say that he was wrong, when a horrible, well back then not so horrible memory took place. Just as they had reached their peak, Eddie had bit down on Jane’s neck, hard enough to leave teeth marks in her neck but it didn’t seem to matter at that moment.   
When she had gotten up a few minutes ago, she had failed to notice that the bite marks had vanished without a trace. “You know I’m infected right? I mean not by you, but by Hybrid as well.”   
“WE ARE AWARE OF THAT LITTLE ONE.”  
“And by we, you mean Eddie knows too?”  
“I KNEW OF COURSE, NOT AT FIRST BUT ONCE I HAD MORE CONTROL OF HIS BODY, I WAS ABLE TO SMELL HYBRID’S SMELL ON YOU. HE KNOWS THAT THERE WERE FIVE OF US ON THAT ROCKET AND THAT TWO OF THEM HADN’T BEEN CAPTURED BY THE LIFE FOUNDATION BUT HE JUST DOESN’T KNOW YOU’RE INFECTED LIKE HE IS.”  
“He knows? Did you tell him?” She felt tears come to her eyes at the very thought. What must he think of her now?  
“HE DOESN’T KNOW, LITTLE ONE. ALL HE KNOWS IS THAT YOU HAD PAIN FROM BEFORE, BUT I DON’T THINK YOU TOLD HIM THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT IT.”  
His white eyes narrowed slightly. “He doesn’t need to know,” said Jane, lowering her gaze from Venom’s piercing one. “If he knew, I don’t even want to think about what he would do if he found out.”  
She felt a tear roll down her face. “It still causes me pain whenever I think about it.” She felt the grip on her loosen slightly and then her feet touch the ground. She looked up at him surprised. “THERE’S NO NEED TO BE SAD, YOU’RE OURS AND NO ONE ELSES.” She felt a hand lift her chin to find him standing there. “NO ONE WILL HURT YOU WHILE WE’RE AROUND. NOT EVEN CARLTON DRAKE.”  
The name sent a ripple of terror, and emotion throughout Jane, but she shook it off. A sudden idea went through her head.   
“What about the symbiote’s plan for world domination? Is that still a thing? Or did that plan go to shit when you guys crash-landed here six months ago?”  
Venom looked shocked by this. “HOW WOULD YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THAT?”  
“I could probably sum it all up in one little word,” said Jane. Get ready Hybrid.  
“AND WHAT WOULD THAT BE?”  
“LOCKDOWN!”   
COPY!  
Hybrid appeared, taking over Jane’s body, and in the same moment, striking Venom in the chest with enough force that he went flying across the room. Venom was able to catch himself as one of his tendrils shot out, latching onto the ceiling. Hybrid went bounding after him; striking Venom in the chest with their feet so they came crashing to the ground. The floorboard beneath them crumpling, Hybrid leapt off Venom and landed lightly on the floor.  
Venom appeared confused before he shook his head, letting out a roar. We’ve made him mad.  
That’s good, can we try attacking him in the head? We just got to get one good tap in to wake Eddie up.  
Hybrid was just processing on how to approach the situation when Venom snuck up behind him, striking a blow which threw Hybrid into the kitchen, crashing into the marble island, and cracking the countertop into pieces before rolling onto the floor to land in the mess of marble.  
“Damn,” said Hybrid, standing up, although it was difficult at first with shaky knees and placing a hand on the side of his head. Hybrid looked up in time, just as Venom sent at least six large tendrils at her that were as thick as pythons.  
Hybrid dodged out of the way by landing on the floor, sliding on their back at a fast speed, aiming for Venom. She slid through the gap in-between his legs, but just as he reached him, Hybrid raised both legs and kicked with as much force as he could, right into Venom’s crotch. Hybrid then crashed painfully into the couch, which buckled under his weight just as Venom let out a high pitched scream and dropped to his knees. “When it comes down to it,” snickered Hybrid. “No matter how big of a man may be, they always got balls in the same place.” Hybrid laughed.   
“FUCK!”  
“Woah language!”  
“WHY YOU LITTLE!” Venom had launched another attack of tendrils, Hybrid tried to dodge out of the way but one of them caught hold of Hybrid’s wrist. The tendril swung upward before Hybrid felt himself go flying through the air and landing into the cupboards.   
Hybrid landed painfully on the shards of broken marble, slashing his skin but his injuries repaired itself in a matter of seconds.  
Damn he’s stronger than I remember. Hybrid shook his head, clearing it before he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. “COME ON MORSEL. COME TO DADDY!”  
Grabbing a nearby piece of marble, which was the size of his fist, Hybrid swung around where his clutched fist connected with the side of Venom’s face. Lifting their leg, Hybrid kicked out hard and drove him back. Venom went reeling backward; his body crashing into the counter, breaking the counter and cupboards, sending plates and bowls crashing down on him.   
Hybrid looked down at him, smirking. “Who’s your daddy now bitch?" he asked in Jane’s voice. Hybrid tensed as Venom stirred, expecting an attack. Instead, a look of confusion suddenly crossing his features before a sudden realization was seen. “Jane?” the voice that came out of Venom’s mouth was not Venom’s, but Eddie. Eddie must have woken up.   
Venom suddenly morphed back into Eddie, who was wearing nothing but a pair of black sweat pants, looking confused but otherwise unhurt.   
Hybrid melted away, revealing Jane. Other than a cut on her cheek and on her lip, she was otherwise unharmed. “Hi Eddie,” she said. She raised her hands. “I’m sorry for what happened; it wasn’t my intention for you to find out like this.”  
“How were you going to have me find out?” asked Eddie, his voice slightly rising in anger. “After we’ve been together for a little bit,” said Jane. “I mean most people don’t go around and tell people they meet on the first date, ‘I’m infected with an alien creature but I’m still me’.”  
“You mean you’re infected with a parasite?” demanded Eddie.  
Parasite!  
Jane could feel Hybrid about to reappear because she could feel her body shaking and her eyes go slightly cross-eyed, and Eddie taking a few steps away from her. He didn’t mean it Hybrid, she said. He’s just doesn’t understand you guys yet or how that word is offensive to you. Relax.  
She felt the shaking in her body cease and her eyes return to their normal position. She sighed in relief. She looked up at Eddie expecting him to appear shocked, but he appeared amazed. “How did you do that?” he asked.   
“I’ve been dealing with Hybrid for a lot longer than you have with Venom,” said Jane. “Oh, and they don’t like being called the p word. They find it very offensive.”  
“That would explain a few things,” said Eddie. “But how did you get a hold of him?”  
“The first time he saved me and then the second time I saved him. It’s a long story.”  
Jane sat down at the island at the only piece that wasn’t broken. “I guess I should explain,” said Jane. “But there are some things that you need to understand about me.”  
Eddie seemed to think about it before taking the seat next to her. “I’m listening,” he said. Jane took a deep breath. “First off,” said Jane. “My name was Lisbeth Stein about a year ago,” said Jane. “I did work as Clinic Assistant, up until I was approached by the Life Foundation and if you remember, that didn’t go too well.”  
“I remember.”  
“I guess I should explain why I left. Not only did I get tired of being treated like a door mat but I was getting suspicious about Drake’s recent behavior. He seemed – distracted and not like himself at all. So I figured I could try and see what was going on. I was able to talk the IT personal; whom I heard was a hacker, into giving me a USB that would allow me to access his files as well as break through any password protected documents he had.  
“That night while he was having a party with some executives of the company, I was able to sneak away into his office. Thankfully there was no one around. I was able to access the files that I needed without having anybody disturb me. At first everything seemed normal, but it wasn’t until I found a file label – NEW SPECIES and it had been a recently been created. I was absolutely horrified when I read it, he talked about combining humans and life forms from other plants because he thought of the human race as ‘parasites’ and how we brought the planet to the brink of extinction. Not only that, he had sent out rockets to try to find the necessary life forms that would help fix the ‘problem’ and had a line-up of human test subjects ready for when it came time to begin testing. He even had my name down as a test subject.”  
“Jesus, so he was planning on this a year ago? And he was planning on using you as a test subject as well? What a disgusting man!”  
“I think he was planning on it for a few months actually. But I was so revolted by him I just about started screaming, although I was caught off guard when a security guard came in and demanded to know why I was there. Thankfully I made up the excuse that Drake had left my wallet at the office and I was coming back to get it. I left the party to think about what my next move would be. In the wee hours of the next day, I made up my mind. I handed in my resignation, packed up my stuff and went back to Canada. I didn’t go home at first, I was too ashamed to return back home. I couldn’t face my parents after learning about what I just learned about my employer.  
“Anyway, I used that time off to figure things out, trying to decide what I should do. During that time, I went to go spend some time with my grandma about two hours away from my home town. I was about to head back when I decided to stop by and see my grandpa’s grave before I left. Unfortunately, I didn’t count on a stranger who tried to rob me.”  
She reached up and gently stroked the skin on her collarbone as though petting an invisible cat. “Hybrid appeared out of nowhere and attacked the stranger, I don’t know what he did at first, but apparently he bit the guy’s head off before he lunged at me. I thought it would kill me like it did with the stranger, instead it bonded with me. Although it just knocked me over but I didn’t feel Hybrid when he absorbed through my skin. I thought it just sort of launched itself at me before it jumped off of me before it took off into the night.  
“But I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, I was just more interested in getting out of there and wanting to put as much space between me and whatever it was as I could. That night, I was feeling sick, I couldn’t understand why and I was having such weird cravings. I not only ate chicken out of the garbage, but I ate the wet dog food. I couldn’t understand what had brought on this cold because I hadn’t been around anyone in that time period and I was very careful not to get sick.  
“So during the time I was at work, I was able to see the doctor. He thought I just had the flu, but I didn’t tell him about the voice I was hearing in my head throughout the night. I told the doctor I was fine, but if my symptoms got worse throughout the day, I would let him know if I needed to take sick days.”  
She raised her head. “I should have taken sick days now that I think about it,” she said. “Because one of our next patients that day was a couple who needed treating for STI’s and it needed to be documented for medical reasons. While I was asking the questions to the couple, the boyfriend was either refusing to answer my questions or kept saying “It’s none of your business”. I could tell he was being abusive his girlfriend because he kept giving her a look when she tried to give an answer. I could tell something wasn’t right.   
“I made a big mistake; I stood up and told him that he needed to provide the information just in case there were more people that were infected. He came right up in my face and told me that he hadn’t been with anyone else except for his girlfriend and told me to go fuck myself.  
“I then said in a different voice, “Don’t lie to us, we can smell your lies.” And then I felt myself transform into Hybrid. He tried to attack me, but I grabbed him and held him above the ground, fortunately I was taller than he was. Then I said, “You know its people like you that you’re not in a relationship”. He then started screaming before he passed out. Thankfully I managed to transform back just as my co-workers came in. I then escorted the girlfriend out of the room, and we both agreed on telling the same story.”  
“Which story was that?”  
“We basically told everyone that he was on drugs and that he started tripping out on them before he passed out,” said Jane. “Anyways, the girlfriend promised to keep my secret and she was going to leave him. Anyways, one thing lead to another and the boyfriend was sent to jail. By that time, I was just ready to end the day so I took some sick leave for a few days. Everybody thought I was shaken up from the incident, so they were trying to comfort me, but I just told them that I was sick and that being shaken up by the incident wasn’t the best thing for me. It was later that night that Hybrid appeared.”  
“What exactly did he tell you?” asked Eddie.  
“He told me that I was his and that he found me, rather than me finding him. He just said, ‘co-operate and you will survive’. He knew everything about me, considering that he’s in my head pretty much all the time.”  
“You didn’t think of getting rid of him at all?”  
“I did at first, but then once I set a few ground rules it made living with him a little bit easier. I even made him a small presentation on the things that we can and can’t eat.”  
“And you two have gotten along since then?”  
“Absolutely. He was just happy that he found someone that was similar to him, minus the fact that we were different species altogether.”  
A red tendril appeared, caressing her arm and Jane stroked it. “It went on like that for a few weeks,” said Jane. “By the end of that week, Hybrid and I were able to work together as one. Nobody suspected a thing and we were able to pass off as normal. Even when my parents to visit, they didn’t suspect anything, although I had to tell Hybrid to shut up a few times, but I was able to make as though I just sneezed or stubbed my toe.  
“But then things went wrong. Carlton Drake confronted me one night in my own home, he was trying to get me to come work for him again, telling me he was sorry for what he did and would make it up to me when I came back to work with him full time. But I absolutely refused, saying I made up my mind and that nothing he said was going to change it.   
“I don’t know what he planned on doing, but Hybrid sensed that he was about to something really bad, because Hybrid appeared and tried his best to protect me. Unfortunately, I had forgotten about the bodyguards outside because they beat me and Hybrid to the ground in a matter of minutes. I don’t know if they were going to kill me or knock me out, but Drake then had an idea with my bond with Hybrid, he thought he could create a new species with symbiotes.  
“I tried telling him he was insane but one of his henchmen stepped on my throat, rending me unable to talk. They somehow got Hybrid away from me using high pitched sound, and let me tell you, getting a symbiote separated from you is just as bad as giving birth to your colon. Then pain was so bad I passed out.”  
Jane closed her eyes as tears formed in them, she bowed her head. “When I woke up, I was tied to my own bed. Utterly helpless and unable to move. Then Carlton Drake came in and he –“  
She broke off to take a deep breath as she remembered what happened next, the pain of being violated and having her innocence ripped from her body like it was nothing. The thing that had made her pure and innocent was ripped from her, leaving her fragile and broken and unable to appeal to anyone.  
“I won’t make you listen to the rest. But he – violated me. It felt like it went on for hours. By the time he was done, he left me there in a bloody mess and disappeared without a trace. My parents came over that night for a social visit. And when they did, they found me huddled on the floor, bloody; looking as though I had been attacked. My dog right beside me, licking my face to make sure I was okay. They didn’t hurt my dog; they just kept her in another room while everything was happening. Although she did try to bite their hands and legs when they were trying to put her in there, I wouldn’t be surprised if she left a few teeth marks on them.” She wiped her eyes. “Since then it was a nightmare.”  
She felt warm strong arms wrap around her and bring her close. “I’m so sorry Jane,” he said. “I had no idea he did that to you.”  
“It’s not your fault,” said Jane. “If anything, he’s to blame for it.” They remained like that for several long minutes, none of them saying a word. Finally, Eddie released her and Jane was able to continue her story. “The next few months were a nightmare. I was able to put out the story that I got assaulted, surprising a burglar that tried to rob my house. I was taken to the emergency room, where I told the emergency doctor and the one RCMP officer that I trusted. Thankfully I was able to tell them the truth without being interrupted and without anyone else overhearing. I told them the truth, well minus Hybrid, that I had been – raped- by Carlton Drake. They promised that they wouldn’t tell anyone.   
“Anyways it was a few weeks before I was able to recover, but I still didn’t feel right. I just felt surprisingly empty, like I wasn’t complete like some part of me had been stolen. I missed having Hybrid with me, I just felt – safe. I knew then I had to get Hybrid back, so I began plotting my revenge on getting Hybrid back and taking out Carlton Drake. While I was recovering, Protective Services changed my name and relocated me to a safe location.  
“Along the way, I met a hacker named Wasp while I was in London and she taught me how to be a hacker, where she made me a member of Webster Serpent, the Hacker Republic for Hackers. I’ve made my name Lisbeth and I’ve been a Hacker ever since.”  
“So Lisbeth is your hacker name?” asked Eddie. “Yeah,” said Jane, smiling a little. “Lisbeth was my name before the name change, so I thought I would make it something that’s now part of my life. Jane’s my middle name so at least I still got to keep it and Sullivan was my great-grandma’s maiden name so I knew I would be safe if I went with that name.”  
“And you’re okay with – hacking?”   
“I’m not doing anything illegal, I’m just exposing people for the scumbags that they are. I get paid a lot more than you would think.”  
“How much?”  
“Well first things first, I make sure that the money that they’ve stolen from people are returned and then take whatever money they have left. They deserve to live in poverty because of their greed and disregard for human lives that don’t matter to them, so that’s why I do it.”  
“How much have you earned?”   
“Well over one billion dollars over the past year, but they’re in accounts all over the world under a number of different alias’s. I don’t use them unless I really need them. Anyways, I don’t need much money.” She raised her hand to gesture around the apartment. “This apartment’s been paid in full for the next year along with all the utilities.”   
“But why not get a mansion or something bigger?”  
“That’s a big red flag in my book, that just screams trouble. I’d rather stick to a small apartment with a false name than a mansion anytime when someone could be busting their way through my front door. That’s how most of my hacker friends hide from people that are trying to find them.”  
“Smart idea.”  
“Thanks.”  
“So, when did you get Hybrid back?”   
“The same night that we met. It was just a few hours later after we got back from the emergency room. Technically I didn’t have any symbiote in my body when we met, but I did when we went on our date.” She laughed. “What?” asked Eddie.  
“Oh, just when we were having coffee there, Hybrid was giving you the stink eye at the start. It’s pretty funny on a symbiote.”  
Eddie reached out with and placed a hand on her cheek. “Jane – Lisbeth, you’re now the most beautiful and tough girl I have ever met. I’d like to get to know you even more now. Plus Venom likes you.”  
“Are you sure? It didn’t look that way when he attacked me earlier. It seemed like he wanted to eat me.” She raised her arm to her neck and wiped the remaining drool away with her sleeve.  
Eddie was silent for a few minutes before he responded, he must have been talking with Venom or Venom had to be talking to him as though prompting him what to say.   
“He was trying to see how you would react if you ever came across one of us. He was actually really impressed you and Hybrid worked together. Most symbiotes and humans don’t work together that well at first.” He hesitated before he added, “Mind you, most symbiotes take over their hosts don’t not bond with them, they just use them to survive and eventually take over the host, sometimes taking what they need and leaving what’s left. I’m guessing Hybrid bonded with you, which is the reason why you still have your body and personality still intact.”  
“It’s mainly due to our bond that we work together so well, plus we’re in tune with each other’s thoughts. I guess it’s safe to say that we have a code word just in case things go south for us.”  
“But still, you guys work together, I mean Venom and I have only been together for a day or two now and it’s either him in control or me.”  
“It gets easier, trust me. The only thing that I still struggle with is how much he eats in a day. I could have eaten a meal big enough for ten people and he’ll still want more.” She sighed. “But I guess I shouldn’t complain, he’s slowly adjusting to my diet and meal times.”  
She lowered her head slightly, a sad look crossing her face. “But still, I should apologize for not telling you earlier.” She felt a hand under her chin and her head lifted to meet Eddie’s gaze.  
“Don’t be, I’m glad you told me now. If you had transformed while we were out in public, I’m not sure what I would have done.”  
“I’m sure other people would have responded well to that,” said Jane sarcastically. A sudden thought popped into her head. “But still why us? What makes us so special? I mean you could have any other girl you wanted, even your ex. Wouldn’t you want to get back together with her?”  
Eddie was silent for a minute; she wasn’t sure if he was trying to figure out what to say or if Venom was talking to him. “You’ve been very interesting to us since the very beginning and you don’t disgust us. Not only that, your relationship with Hybrid fascinates us. Given your history from before, you’re still kind, smart and funny. Both of us like you. I mean, I never thought I would have another chance at a relationship and I do want to try to make it work. I mean we’re both in the same boat, having – creatures inside of us. You belong with us.”  
Jane smiled. “That’s very sweet you two. I’m not going to lie but I’m a little messed up.”  
“That’s ok,” he said, pulling her in for a kiss. “But based on what I’ve heard, you and I are both messed up.”  
“But I should let you know, Hybrid and I come as a package deal. You get both of us or none of us at all. We don’t last very long without each other.”  
In answer, Eddie kissed her. “I’m fine with that.” He then moved his head to her neck and began kissing it, starting off with soft kisses before it grew to gentle nips. “Are you wanting to go another round?” asked Jane.  
“Maybe I do,” said Eddie in a seductive tone. “We can feel your emotions now. You want something.”  
Jane hesitated before she said, “I – I’m not sure if you felt it, but I liked our – moment we shared earlier. When you -” She couldn’t continue, his kisses were distracting her, even when he left small hickies on her neck. “Wanna feel again?” he asked, his voice in a low husky tone. She felt his hand touch her cheek, gently caressing it with his thumb. Jane felt her breath hitch in her throat. “Because the truth is, we’re dying to repeat it too.”   
She could definitely feel the heat spreading throughout her, adrenaline singing throughout her body. Once again, she felt the sudden need for Eddie to be closer to her in more ways than one. She was wondering if Eddie and Venom could feel how fast her heart was beating and how her smell had changed when she started to feel turned on due to Eddie’s kisses along her neck.   
“Alright,” said Jane, a sly smile playing on her lips. “But I must ask, do you want to do Mr. and Mrs. Smith or Slow and Easy?”  
In answer, Eddie raised his head and placed his forehead on her own. “You decide,” he said, his warm breath tickling on her face. Jane smiled. “How about we start off slow and work our way up?” In answer, she felt her feet leave the floor and the next thing she knew she was back in her bedroom, before landing softly on her back before he climbed on top of her before his lips were back on hers.  
I take that as a yes.  
I’ll leave you two love birds alone. Obviously, I don’t want to be the third wheel in this scene again.  
Once again, she felt Hybrid’s voice leave her head, leaving her head empty. She felt her legs wrap immediately around Eddie’s legs as she felt her arms wrap around his neck, while Eddie’s arms wrapped around her waist, one hand on her back while his other was in her shirt and touching the skin of her back, once again running over the raised skin of her tattoos.   
Then slowly, inch by inch, his hands slowly pulled up her shirt before they broke apart so Jane could remove her shirt. She thought she heard Eddie take in a deep breath before pushing Jane gently back down onto the bed. He then began to caress her breasts and kiss her neck again, sucking on the sensitive flesh of her neck. She moaned out in pleasure, tugging at his hair lightly. “Ours,” he mumbles, nipping lightly at the small hickey that was beginning to form on her neck.  
He then worked his way down from her neck to her collarbone. She moaned in pleasure, as he began to kiss her breast while his free hand began massaging the other one, earning a moan or two from her. She ran her hands over his chest and felt his muscles, lightly tracing them with her fingers.  
He abandoned her chest, slowly making his way back up to her lips and began kissing her, more rough than it was before, gently biting her lower lip.   
Suddenly his tongue ran along her lower lip, causing her to gasp. Jane felt her mouth open as he felt his tongue explore her own mouth before their tongues began wrestling. All the while that this was happening, his hands were sliding down towards her butt, before he gripped her butt, causing her to moan. She jerked away when she felt him pinch her butt cheek.   
He chuckled, a sly smile crossing his features. “What happened to slow and easy?” she asked in a teasing tone. “Or are you telling me that you want to kick things up a notch?”  
“How much are we talking?”  
“Take off your pants and I’ll show you.”  
Eddie then got off of her. While he was doing this, Jane made to get up to remove but before she could do anything more than placing her hands on her shorts when she felt warm hands wrap around hers. “No,” she felt Eddie’s warm breath touch her neck, making her shiver. “Leave them on.”  
“Okay but-“ she was cut off when he began pressing kisses against the side of her neck and shoulder. She felt her head tip back, allowing more of her neck to be exposed to Eddie, who attacked her neck with more kisses and hickeys. His hands caressing her breasts and stomach just above the waistband of her shorts.  
He was feeling very hot with all of this contact and excitement. He then licked up the length of her neck. “I need you to bend over on the bed,” he whispered. She thought of playfully refusing, but instead she rested her upper body on the bed, her forearms supporting her.   
She could feel her heard rate increased when feeling Eddie’s fingers curl over the waistband of her shorts and yank them down. Once they were lowered enough, she felt his hand on her hip before he stepped closer to her. Jane held her breath, anticipating the moment for when he penetrated her.  
A hard shudder ran through her body the minute she felt him penetrate her, as well as her body tightening up around him. He wrapped both hands securely around her hips before he began to gently thrust into her, starting off slow. He then leaned over to press kisses on her shoulder before making his way down her back, each kiss sending electricity through her body along with his warm breath and the gentle tickle of his beard making it more pleasurable.   
It was only a few minutes later before they changed positions, Jane laying on her back while Eddie was on top, continuing to thrust into her. He leaned in and began kissing her passionately. His tongue, entering her mouth and wrestling with hers.   
He breath in a shaky breath as they flipped, making Jane the dominant one. She arched her back as she grinded into his hips. He leaned up and began kissing her neck, his hands resting against her sides. She could now feel her orgasm building up again, her walls tighten and her breaths grew shorter as she moaned.  
They then flipped again, this time making Eddie the dominant one once more. This time, he began to push deeper into her, which nearly made Jane lose herself in that moment. He quickened his pace, which almost sent her over the edge. “Oh fuck,” he groaned in pleasure. Jane felt her nails dig into the skin of his back.   
It wasn’t long before she felt her whole body shuddered as Eddie bite into her shoulder again as he thrusted a few more times before he came. He collapsed beside her on the bed, trying to catch his breath. “Wow,” he said. “Yeah,” said Jane, trying to catch her breath as well. She turned to look at him. “Was that your definition of slow and easy?”  
“It was at first, but I wanted to step it up a little, see how you would handle it.” He looked over at her, pushing a few strands of hair away from her face. “I think I did okay,” said Jane. “I wasn’t expecting you to switch it up halfway through.”  
Eddie laughed. “I wonder how it would have went if we went full on Mr. and Mrs. Smith mode.”  
“Probably half the furniture in the apartment would have been broken in the process,” said Jane. “But knowing we have symbiotes, we probably would break the whole apartment. How am I going to explain that to the landlord if that happens?”  
“I’m sure we’ll think of something,” said Eddie.   
He reached out and placed a hand on her cheek. “You’re so beautiful,” he said softly, leaning in and kissing her forehead. Jane reached out and ran her fingers along his back but froze when she felt the raised skin on his back. Jane froze. “What happened?” he asked, noticing the slightly horrified look on her face. “I think I might have accidentally gave you some marks.” He looked confused, but he got up and walked over to the mirror, his back facing the mirror. “Damn,” he said. “You’re getting more and more violent missy.” He grinned playfully, turning back to her.   
“Oh, come on, you love it and you know it,” she said, grinning a little. He climbed back into bed with her again, pulling her close to him. “You feel better now that you told me about Hybrid and your past?” he asked. “Much better,” said Jane. “I felt guilty while we were hanging out, like I had a brick in my stomach. Venom knew about me being infected, but I’m not too sure if he was going to tell you.”  
“He didn’t tell me really,” said Eddie. “I just kept having dreams of you becoming Hybrid. I mean it scared me, but I always brushed it off as nothing more than a bad dream. At the same time, I couldn’t help but feel something wasn’t quite right while we were together. I just assumed it was guilt of me moving on from my ex-fiance, so I brushed it off.” He looked down at her. “I probably would have confronted you if you started acting funny, but from what you’ve told me earlier, you and Hybrid worked together so well that I wouldn’t have suspected. If only Venom hadn’t possessed me then-“ He froze, unable to continue.  
“Like I said,” said Jane, propping herself on her elbow to look at him. “It gets easier, but I guess Venom was tired of hiding and not being able to show himself around me. He wanted the truth about me exposed as well as him. I guess you can blame Venom for this.”  
“But still, had he not, I wouldn’t have found out about you, how you had the same condition I have.” His fingers lightly tracing the skin of her back. “A beautiful girl with her own symbiote that I’m madly in love with,” he said. She smiled, pressing a hand on his chest. “And a handsome guy that makes me feel more human than I did before and accepts me for who I am. Even if I got an alien in my body,” she said. She smiled. She could see only kindness and care in his eyes, it made her feel better, not to mention his warm, comforting smell. It made her feel safe. He gently took her hand, slowly raising it to his lips, kissing each finger. It was a sweet, calming gesture that made your stomach buzz a little. When he finished, he gave you a reassuring smile. “As long as I’m around, you’re safe.”  
His hands slowly moved from her back, along her arm and up to her cheeks. “I’ll always be with you Jane, no matter what. I won’t ever let anything come between us.” He leaned in and kissed her again.


	9. Seperation

Chapter 8  
It was late in the morning when Lisbeth woke, finding herself wrapped in Eddie’s arms. She snuggled in closer, remembering the events of last night. They had gone to bed, but unfortunately there was still a bit of energy between the two of them, so they decided to go for another round of having intercourse.  
They had done two rounds in bed and one while they were in the shower, although they had move it to the bathroom after the bedframe and the headboard made a loud creaking noise before it eventually collapsed under their weight.  
“Don’t worry you did me a favor anyways. I always hated that bed frame since the first day that I moved in here,” said Jane after they had finished their second round. “I think we both did ourselves a favor in doing this.” It was from there when they had moved their third round to the bathroom, although they were careful not to break anything.  
Three rounds and three hours later, they had burned off enough energy to sleep peacefully, curled up next to one other without being bothered by the noises of the early morning traffic.  
Before they had fallen asleep, Jane asked that she would be called Lisbeth when it was the two of them but refer to her as Jane when they were in public. Eddie had agreed. “At least I’m calling you by your real name,” he said. “Why keep a beautiful name like that hidden away with a false identity.”  
She rolled over and opened her eyes, only to find Eddie wide awake. “Good morning,” she said, smiling. “Good morning to you as well,” he said, reaching out and stroking her cheek. He leaned in and kissed her, Lisbeth felt her heard rate picking up the moment he kissed her. She felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her closer to him before pulling her on top of him.  
“I take it round four is an option?” she asked. “Maybe,” he said in a teasing tone. She giggled, before leaning down and kissing him, but their passionate kissing was soon interrupted by their stomachs.  
“Sound we eat?” she asked. “I mean it is almost lunch and we missed breakfast.”  
“I could go for a bite,” he said. “You?”  
“I’m starving,” she said. She smiled before she made to get up, but as she did so, an intense pain went up her leg and she almost fell over. Thankfully both Hybrid and Eddie caught her.  
“You alright?” he asked. “I’m fine,” said Lisbeth. “I think I just moved too quick.” She stood up and took a step forward, ignoring the pain in her leg as she made to pick up her clothes from last night. She winced a little when she was pulling on her shorts. “You okay?” asked Eddie as he was pulling on a pair of sweatpants.  
“I think I might have pulled something during one of our rounds last night,” said Lisbeth. “But I’m sure it’ll pass when I start moving around a little more.” She threw on a shirt that she knew would be too big for her, and shaking her tousled up hair that hung in waves to her waist. “You look really good with wavy hair,” said Eddie. “It suits you better than it being straight.”  
“I think I’ll stick with it,” said Lisbeth. “It’s too much of a pain to straighten it every day.”  
They headed towards the kitchen that was damaged form the night before, the marble island still in shambles and the cupboards were broken along with the dishes that lay like shattered porcelain on the floor. “It’ll be okay,” said Lisbeth at the worried looked on Eddie’s face. “Don’t worry, I’ll make arrangements to make sure it’ll get fixed.” He looked a little unsure, but when she told him about the money she had stashed away, he relaxed. “So what do you guys feel like for breakfast?”  
Eddie was silent as he listened to what Venom was telling him. “Something with raw meat and chocolate,” said Eddie. “Chocolate I can do,” said Lisbeth. “Raw meat, the only thing I have is steak but it’s frozen and I don’t imagine him wanting to eat frozen meat. Otherwise I can make a mean Philly Cheesesteak.” A sudden idea popped into her head. “You know I got just the thing.”  
Ten minutes later, they were eating toasted Nutella and strawberry jam sandwiches. “That’s amazing,” he said when Eddie had finished this third helping. “What made you think of that?”  
“I’ve made that a few times whenever I had a craving for chocolate,” said Lisbeth. “I figured it would be good enough to help the symbiotes out.”  
Eddie’s phone rang, nearly making Lisbeth jump. “It’s the hospital,” said Eddie, checking the caller ID. “What do they want?” asked Lisbeth. “Maybe my MRI results came back,” said Eddie. “I guess I’ll find out.”  
He answered the call, Lisbeth waiting patiently all the while. Finally he hung up the phone. “They want me to come in to see Dr. Lewis right away,” he said. “It’s regarding my MRI results.”  
Lisbeth felt her stomach drop, of course, they were probably concerned the symbiote that they probably found on the scan. She remembered the details from his MRI scan, the black mass in his chest cavity.  
She looked up at him. “You want me to come with you?” she asked. “Are you sure?” he asked. “What if they think you’re sick too?”  
“They won’t,” said Lisbeth. “But if they start making me mad and asking really stupid questions, I might have to leave. The last time I got mad it was because I was getting annoyed at a patient who wasn’t being co-operative and Hybrid just about burst out of my chest.” She placed her hand on top of his. “But I’ll come and support you all the same.”  
Black tendrils appeared before wrapping around their hands for a brief moment before disappearing again. “That was our way of saying thank you,” said Eddie. “You’re welcome,” said Lisbeth. She stood up. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get going.”

 

They had time to change, Lisbeth wearing jeans, a black tank top and a black leather jacket while Eddie wore jeans and a black leather jacket with a blue shirt. “What happened to your motorbike?” asked Lisbeth when they got into Lisbeth’s Rouge. “It got smashed while I was trying to escape Drake’s thugs. I haven’t even gone back to get it yet.”  
“We’ll get it back,” said Jane. “I’m sure it’s not too hard to fix.” She sighed, feeling a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. “Are you alright?” asked Eddie. “You seem tense.”  
“How can you tell?”  
“You’re smell changes depending on your mood, but you’re not in as much pain as you were before. I think it started changing right after you told us about Hybrid. Right now, I can tell you’re tense.”  
Lisbeth sighed. “I’m fine,” said Lisbeth. “I’m just worried about what they might find in your scan. What if they find Venom? How are we going to explain that? They might want to put you in the hospital. That’s what I’m worried about.” She felt Eddie’s hand on her shoulder followed by, not one, but two sets of tendrils. “Don’t worry about it babe. It’ll be okay. I promise.” Lisbeth smiled. “Thank you,” she said.  
The hospital was deserted by the time Lisbeth and Eddie arrived. They were then directed to an MRI room where they found the same dark haired doctor that had tended to Lisbeth several days ago and a young blonde woman that she had never met before.  
She was tall, rail thin, and was wearing a blouse, a black sweater and a black skirt. She looked more like a Malibu Barbie compared to her Raggedy Ann figure. Eddie was apparently shocked at seeing the woman there, a look of recognition forming over his features. “Oh hi Anne, I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” he said. “Hi Eddie,” said the woman. “Dan called me and suggested I come over.” She looked over at Lisbeth. “I wasn’t expecting you to have company,” she added in a cool tone.  
That’s Anne? I can’t believe he used to be with her. I’m basically a step down compared to her.  
Don’t tell yourself stuff like that my love. He chose you and he’s with you now. You’re a lot better compared to that bitch.  
Whoa, watch the language there Hybrid.  
Now that we’re face to face with her, I can just smell that she is a slut.  
SHHH!  
“Eddie I just got your results back and they’re not good,” said the doctor. “Your heart has atrophied.”  
That is nonsense, we don’t eat you.  
They don’t know that. They don’t know about you guys yet.  
“What do you mean by that?” demanded Lisbeth. “Can it be fixed?” asked Eddie.  
“I’m sorry but I’ve never seen anything like this before. This parasite-“  
PARASITE! LET ME AT HIM!  
She could feel Hybrid trying to escape, Lisbeth felt her eyes go cross-eyed and put her hands to her head as thought this would help keep Hybrid inside her body. The last thing she needed was Hybrid and Venom causing a scene in the hospital and causing a panic. “Ms. Sullivan are you alright?” asked the doctor. “I’m fine,” she said shortly, smiling a small smile. “Tension headache. It’ll pass.”  
Hybrid, stop this right now.  
She felt Eddie’s hand touch her shoulder and it immediately sent a wave of calm through her and Hybrid finally relaxed, no longer wanting to try and get out of her body. “You alright babe?” he asked. “Fine,” said Lisbeth.  
“Wait, you’re together?” asked Anne. “Of course we’re together, why else would I be here?” demanded Lisbeth, feeling slightly angry with Anne and the doctor. She paused to take a deep breath.  
I need to calm down. Hybrid’s emotions are getting the better of me.  
“No reason,” said Anne, glancing Lisbeth up and down. “It’s just I can’t understand why someone like you would be dating a liar and some who uses people for him own selfish reasons.”  
Whoa, total bitch.  
“I’m well aware of the reason why you guys broke up,” said Lisbeth in a cool voice. “What I’m unaware of is why you’re belittling him when the doctor is supposed to be giving Eddie his results or is all that air escaping from your head?”  
Oh, snap! Snap! Good one Lisbeth!  
Hybrid lapsed into a solid fit of laughter.  
“Anyways,” continued the doctor as though there had been no interruption. “We need to get you to the ICU.” Lisbeth was about step in front of Eddie when Eddie held up his hands. “Shh,” he said. “Am I Eddie, am I dying?”  
We do not eat our hosts, I am not like that and I’m not sure Venom would do that with Eddie either. Especially since you two are now together, so there would be no reason for him to even eat him.  
“He’s not dying,” said Lisbeth, although she made it seem like she was someone in denial. “I’m sorry Ms. Sullivan but I need to do what’s best for-“ He was cut off when a massive black hand appeared and grabbed the doctor around the neck. “Eddie no!” shouted Lisbeth, running over and trying to loosen the grip on the doctor’s neck, who was now starting to turn blue.  
Lisbeth felt Hybrid take over her hands, her own pale human hands twisting into scarlet as she was able to find a grip on the massive hands and was working on trying to release the grip. “I’m so sorry,” said Lisbeth to the doctor, who had a look of terror in his eyes at the sight of her abnormal hands. “He’s not like this.”  
Suddenly a loud high pitched sound went through the room; the sound was causing Hybrid and Lisbeth incredible pain. It took her a second to realize that the MRI machine had been activated and was causing the sound. Lisbeth released the grip on Venom’s hand and sank to her knees, clutching to her head and screaming as she saw Eddie back into the room where the MRI machine was, screaming like a man possessed as his form was starting to blur, which meant only one thing. The sounds from the MRI were driving Venom away from Eddie’s body, trying to separate symbiote from host. She had a feeling that the same thing was happening to her as well.  
The pain in her body was excruciating, her brain was feeling as though someone as though someone was trying to yank it from her skull. Inside her head, she could feel Hybrid screaming in pain too. But it wasn’t just her own scream that was ringing through the room, but also Eddie’s as well.  
The next thing she knew, Hybrid’s voice vanished as she felt something being ripped from her as she felt Hybrid separate from her body. She felt her body fall into a pit of darkness as it hit the ground. Before the darkness hit her, she thought she could hear someone calling her name.  
Eddie.  
She tried to find him with her hands, but her arms felt like lead and her body was completely zapped of energy. She felt the darkness consume her.


	10. Final Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nearing the end! This is one chapter you don't want to miss out on!

Chapter 9

She wasn’t sure of how much time had passed, but when she woke up she found herself in a glass room that looked like it belonged to a science lab rather than a hospital. She got up, before she realized that her black leather jacket was gone as well as her boots, leaving her in her socks. She struggled to get up, her head felt strangely heavy, but she fought through the fog. She struggled to get up, her legs wobbling a bit beneath her which made her stumble a few times before she was able to stand upright without having to fall down.

**_What the hell happened? How did I end up here? This doesn’t feel right. I didn’t like this when I was first separated from Hybrid. Did I get drugged after I fell unconscious?_ **

She looked around and saw quickly that she was in the Life Foundation, recognizing the architecture from the last time she had been here except this time it was during the day, rather than late at night. _How the hell did I end up here?_ She felt absolutely terrified and empty. Without Hybrid, she was a sitting duck. But then again, what happened to Eddie after she had passed out?

She could feel the tension building in her chest. She took a deep breath, placing her head against the cool glass and placed her hands on it. **_Stay calm. Try to figure out what happened. There’s got to be a missing link between Point A and Point B. But still, why am I here?_**

She heard the glass door open behind her, she turned around and saw one of Drake’s thugs coming in. He wasn’t armed, but it didn’t take long for Lisbeth to recognize her. The man stopped and watched her carefully. “Well, well,” he said. “Look what the cat dragged in. You were a slippery thing to catch.”

“Figures,” snarled Lisbeth. “You know you caused a lot of trouble in a lot of Canadian cities that I was visiting. You made it seem like you guys were terrorists.”

“Never meant for that to happen,” said the thug. “How many cities were you at again? I lost count.”

“Edmonton, Lloydminster, Calgary and even Toronto,” said Lisbeth. “You can imagine how many Canadians were pissed off when they learned that the attacks were from the Life Foundation. How did you guys get out of those attacks?”

“That’s none of your concern you little weasel,” snarled the thug. “But at least we your friend after we separated him from you back in that little town of yours. It’s a shame that it wrecked you, you were such a pretty little thing.”

WHACK!

Lisbeth had whipped out a punch and struck him across the face, she had felt his nose give way under the force of her blow. The thug let out a yell as he backed away, holding his nose that was starting to spew blood. “You want another?” taunted Lisbeth, her fists raised. “Because I got plenty more where that came from.”

The thug hesitated before he backed away towards the door, almost at a run and almost running into the glass door as it slowly opened. Lisbeth smirked. “Chicken shit.” She turned her back to the door, not caring if he came back.

It was a few minutes before she heard the glass door open behind her, she turned and saw –

Carlton Drake flanked by two of his henchmen. He stood there, clean shaven, wearing a perfectly pressed suit, an expensive looking watch and shoes that were highly polished.

The very sight of him made Lisbeth want to vomit, a wave of emotion went through her, anger, embarrassment, anguish, depression, went through her. She closed her eye and did her best to control her emotions, the last thing she needed was to get Tazed. She didn’t need this guy doing god-knows what to her again while she was unconscious.

“Oh,” she said. “You.”

“You don’t seem impressed that I’m here.”

“Why would I? After all the shit that you put me through nearly a year ago, why would I be impressed by that? Or do you still have your head still in the sand? You’re an even bigger airhead than I thought.”

Drake laughed. “Oh Lisbeth you never cease to amaze me.” He looked at her, like a cat that spotted a mouse and was eyeing her with a hungry look. “You look like hell. I must apologize about bringing you here, you were being observed after passing out in the hospital.” His eyes raked her hair. “You’re hair’s different. I like it.”

“What the hell do you want Drake?” she demanded. “Why the hell did you bring me here? And what did you do with Eddie?”

“Your boyfriend’s here,” said Drake. “But he’s not going to be around for much longer, seeing as he wouldn’t tell me where my symbiote is. But you can spare his life if you tell me where my symbiotes are.”

Lisbeth snorted. “ _Your_ symbiote?” she said. “Hybrid was mine in the first place; I was just taking back what was rightfully mine. He was never yours to begin with. By rights, you took him away from me so technically that’s stealing.”

Drake made a little motion with his head; the two guards grabbed her arms, forcing her to the ground, so she was kneeling in front of Drake. One of them forced her head back so she was looking up at him. Drake reached down and ran a hand along her cheek, the moment his hand came into contact with her skin; Lisbeth resisted the urge to vomit although she wished she would have.

“Why must you be so difficult Lisbeth?” asked Drake in what he thought was a soothing voice. “All I want is to know where my creatures are and no one gets hurt. That’s all.”

Double barf.

“I don’t know where your creatures are,” said Lisbeth. “Even if I did, why should I tell you? You’ll just kill them like you did the others.”

“I didn’t mean for those symbiotes to get killed,” said Drake calmly, although he showed no remorse. “But you still don’t see the bigger picture of what I’m trying to achieve. Imagine it, a whole new world. A new species. Man and symbiote combined.”

“How can you be sure you’re making the right choice with that?” demanded Lisbeth. “Some of these creatures are pure _evil._ And you want to combine these creatures with the likes of us, how do you know you’re not going to make everything much worse for us?”

“It will all work out my love,” said Drake, brushing his hand along her cheek. “You’ll see. It will all work out.”

“You’re insane,” said Lisbeth, shaking her head. “Insane. I can see it in your face; you’re nothing but an insane maniac. You haven’t changed at all, you’re still the same power-hungry bastard I met nearly a year ago.”

His look of comfort disappeared, a look of hatred intensified as he backhanded her across the face with enough force that knocked the wind out of her. She felt rough hands grab her scalp and forced her to look back at Drake. “I’ll ask again, where are my symbiotes?”

“I don’t know where he is, how many times am I going to have to tell you in order to get it through your thick skull.”

Another whack to the head, this time she felt her bottom lip split open. She tasted blood in her mouth. She spat a mouthful out onto the floor.

“This is the last time I’m going to ask you,” said Drake angrily. “Where are my symbiotes?” Lisbeth felt a smile stretched her face as she leaned forward. “You really want to know where they are,” she said. As she had anticipated, Drake leaned forward towards her as though expecting her to tell him an interesting secret. “Well?” he demanded.

In answer, Lisbeth spat in his face. Drake let out a cry of disgust as he backed away. Lisbeth twisted her body, landing a good solid kick to the henchman’s kneecaps on her right, who immediately fell over, screaming in pain. Lisbeth quickly used her body weight, pushing her body weight so her feet landed a good solid kick in the ribs of the other henchman that had hold of her. She landed on her feet, grabbing the gun from the first henchman and whacking him in the head with the gun.

She turned around and shot the second henchman straight in the chest, where he fell backward dead.  

She raised the gun to point it at Drake, but rather than shooting him in the chest like she did with the henchman, she shot him in the leg. He let out a scream of pain as she fell to the ground, clutching his leg. She walked past him before shooting at the glass door, which shattered, the glass raining down on the floor like glass raindrops.

 She took off down the corridor at a run, keeping the gun at the ready. She kept slipping and sliding on the smooth floor, so she had to stop a few times to regain her balance before eventually tearing her socks off of her feet. She had no idea where the hell she was going, but whenever she spotted armed guards coming her was, she quickly duck into a nearby corridor or a closet.

Each time, Lisbeth felt her adrenaline rising in her chest. She turned right, left, once or twice stumbling upon a dead end before turning back. **_God, how big is this place? Where’s Hybrid when I need him? I could have busted out of here after I found Eddie already._**

She was just heading down another corridor when she heard a soft voice calling, _“One, two, guess who’s coming for you….”_

She immediately felt a shiver run down her spine. **_Oh god, please don’t let it be him._** She turned around, expecting to see someone there, but found the corridor empty. **_Either he’s here, or he’s just messing with you. Stay calm._**

“Hello beautiful,” said a soft voice. Lisbeth immediately whirled around and pointed her gun at –

Drake was standing there, an insane smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Now that you caught me, what game do you want to play?”

“Fuck you,” snarled Lisbeth, her teeth bared as she raised the gun a little bit higher so it was pointing directly at Drake’s chest. The insane smile widened even more. “Ohh, sounds like fun. It’s a little fast for me. How ab-“

But Lisbeth tuned out whatever else he was telling her. There was something not quite right about him, there was something nagging at her about Drake. Drake who was now looking at her like a hungry wolf, but who had recovered quickly from a gunshot wound. How was that possible?

She quickly glanced down and saw – there was no bullet wound. Lisbeth immediately knew what was happening, she could feel her heartbeat pick up and took a step back as she realized in horror she was staring at. “You’re infected,” she whispered. And then a horrible thought crossed her mind. “And you’ve been infected with Riot. HAVEN’T YOU!” The last two words were raised to a scream.

The next thing she knew, she was face to face with possibly the ugliest symbiote she had ever seen, he was even bigger than Venom, looking somehow like a twisted piece of metal with white glaring eyes and a mouthful of jagged teeth. The very sight of him nearly made Lisbeth scream and run away in fright. But then again, this symbiote made both Venom and Hybrid look like priceless beautiful sculptures while this symbiote looked like someone who was doing a last minute metal sculpture that didn’t go too well.

“ _That is the ugliest looking thing I have ever seen,”_ she said in a squeaky whisper.

Lisbeth immediately felt her adrenaline level spike and her fear vanish. She raised the gun and fired, knowing her efforts would be wasted as the bullets ricocheted off the thick armor-like skin. Riot laughed. **“Not very smart are you. I thought being bonded with a symbiote would have let you know of our weaknesses.”**

“I’m well aware of the weaknesses,” snarled Lisbeth. “But if your host thinks he’s going to win me back by what he’s done so far, he’s _hugely_ mistaken.” Riot opened his mouth to say something when he smelled the air. He even went as far as to lick her cheek, but Lisbeth leaned away far enough so Riot’s tongue wouldn’t come into contact with her skin. She thought of grabbing his tongue and possibly ripping it out of his mouth, but she didn’t want to risk losing her arm to this symbiote.

**“Taken,”** he said. **“Her scent has changed. She’s with someone else. She’s been marked.”** He was silent; he must have been talking to Drake, probably deciding what to do with her.

She watched as Riot changed back into Drake, a look of anguish on his face. “How could you? Mingling with another man? When you were mine in the first place.”

“I was never yours,” snapped Lisbeth. “I’m free to see who I want.” She pulled down her shirt to show him the scars that were no longer there. “And I will never be yours.”

The next thing she knew, she was hanging upside down with her face dangling inches away from Riot’s. **“Pathetic,”** he snarled, and she could hear Drake’s voice merge with Riots. **“I’ll get rid of your boyfriend then I’ll save you for desert.”**

He threw her into a room, where she landed painfully on her side before she heard the loud CLANK as a metal door shut behind her. “Oh great,” she said, getting up, wincing as the pain went through her body. She looked around the metal cage that was now her prison, she was in a completely empty room, other than a few carts. The air vents were too high even for her to climb up and the door was coded with a lock. She checked her pockets, only to find that her phone was missing.

She felt disheartened; she had lost her only weapon in getting out of here. Her phone had a hacker program that would allow her to hack into any program, even an electronic lock, and would help her escape. “Shit,” she said, sinking down to the floor. She felt tears spring to her eyes.

She was utterly helpless now.

No Eddie.

No Venom.

No Hybrid.

Riot and Drake were out there, probably trying to hunt down Eddie or god knows what else they were trying to do.

No means of escaping now.

What else was she to do?

            She had never felt so helpless to escape. What else could she do?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loudspeaker. _“Launch sequence initiated. Thirty minutes to launch.”_

Launch?

A sudden horror went through her, she remembered Hybrid talking about Riot’s plan when they first met. Originally Hybrid was on a mission to get to Carlton Drake’s rocket with the others to bring back more of their kind. At first, Lisbeth absolutely refused, saying that she would never set foot back in the Life Foundation again, but it was a few days later that the nagging eventually stopped. Ever since he had been bonded back with her, Hybrid wanted nothing more than to foil the mission that Riot was planning on leading, especially after the way the symbiotes were treated as test subjects.

**_Is this what he was planning? Is this mission more important than finding Eddie? Sure Riot would lead Drake to believe that. But still, will Venom go along with it? Or will Hybrid and I have to prevent it? Assuming I find Hybrid in time._ **

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of screaming, bullets, gunfire followed by –

A roar? It sounded so inhuman and angry that Lisbeth couldn’t believe she was hearing it. She could hear the _ping, ping,_ as the bullets rocketed around off the door of her cell. Eventually the noises ceased. Lisbeth stood up, preparing for whatever was about to come through the door.

Suddenly there was a loud sound of screeching metal as the door was suddenly torn away and in walked a huge figure. She felt her heart rate pick up at the thought of Riot coming back for her.

Instead a soft smile, followed by a sigh of relief as she recognized the huge figure that stepped into the room. “Hey big guy,” she said.

**“HELLO MORSEL.”**

As they drew closer, Lisbeth couldn’t help but notice that Venom’s body looked different, she didn’t notice it at first but she saw he looked more scarlet in the light. Was it Hybrid?

She didn’t have much time to think because at that moment, Venom bent down and captured her mouth into a deep kiss. It was definitely different than kissing Eddie, more aggressive and hungrier as she felt his teeth gently bite her bottom lip before he swept his tongue past her lips.

As this heated exchange was going on, Lisbeth could feel something warm trickling over her skin before settling into her body.

_Hello my love._

**_Where the hell have you been?_ **

_Long story, but the important thing is that we’re together now._

At this point, Venom must have sensed that Hybrid was no longer attached to him, Venom pulled away from Lisbeth. She immediately felt her hands go to her head as she felt the last little bit of Hybrid go into her. She felt her eyes go cross-eyed before she felt a sigh leave her body as a smile crossed her features. It felt good to have Hybrid back with her.

 “Lisbeth?” asked Eddie’s voice. Lisbeth looked up to find Venom had vanished, only to be replaced by Eddie.

“Eddie,” she said, running over and hugging him. He apparently was surprised by her sudden action, before he wrapped his arms around her. “Sorry,” she said. “But I’m just so happy to see you.”

They pulled away, Eddie cupping her face his hands. “Are you alright?” he asked. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?” He must have noticed her split lip, which was stinging a lot less now, Hybrid must be at work healing her.

Lisbeth shook her head. “He tried, but I spat in his face and kicked the crap out of his guards. I shot him in the leg on my way out. At least until Riot locked me in here. But still, I showed him.”

“Badass.” He grinned.

“How did we end up here? I mean I don’t remember much after I passed out.”

“Well after Anne had separated Venom and Hybrid from us, Dan had you carted away to the ICU. Apparently, the stress of losing Hybrid, or what he says, had put your body through a lot of stress causing you to pass out. I tried following you but I was barred from the room. I don’t remember what happened next because I went to the elevator when I was face to face with Drake’s henchman before I was knocked out.”

“How did you get Hybrid and Venom back?” Eddie didn’t answer. “It’s embarrassing,” he mumbled. “I can handle it,” said Lisbeth, smiling although she wondered if his response had something to do with Anne. “Well after Drake interrogated me, I was then lead out to the forest by Drake’s men. Thankfully Anne rescued me, although she did allow Hybrid and Venom to bond with her.” He paused as his cheeks turned pink. “But she kissed me in order to pass the symbiotes from her to me. It was Venom’s idea, I swear.”

“It’s fine,” said Lisbeth.

**_Is it true Hybrid? Because if Anne kissed him, I’m gonna-_ **

_Everything he says is true, although we did leave Anne in the middle of the forest. Serves her right for how she treated you earlier._

“You left Anne in the forest?”

“Again, it wasn’t my idea. Venom and Hybrid took over and we took off to find you. Thankfully we were able to find you due to your smell. I thought we were going to have a bigger problem trying to find you. I guess it’s a good thing we left our scent on you, it made us easier for us to track.”

“We got bigger problems than that,” said Lisbeth quickly. “Riot’s attached himself to Drake. Plus, there’s been some kind of launch that’s been initiated.”

_Holy shit, you were face to face with Riot. How did you escape?_

**_He threw me in here. I’m just thankful he didn’t eat me or worse._ **

“Who’s Riot?” demanded Eddie. “Riot’s what you call a team leader,” said Lisbeth, speaking on behalf of Hybrid, who was talking in her ear. “He has an arsenal of weapons. He is unstoppable. We have got to get out of here.”

Without even thinking, Lisbeth ran out of the room and down the hall. Before she could run more than a few feet when Eddie caught up to her. “Hold on Lisbeth,” he said, turning her around to face him. “What’s the plan?”  

“You and Venom try and distract Riot and Drake,” said Lisbeth. “I’ll try and stop the rocket. If not, I’ll come and help. As long as I find a computer, I should be able to stop it.” Lisbeth was just about to turn and run down the hall when she felt Eddie’s hand squeeze hers. She turned back to find him staring at her, a torn look on his face. “Lisbeth I-“ He wasn’t sure how to continue.

In answer, Lisbeth leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss him. “I know,” she said. It seemed to be the answer he was looking for, because a second later he released her hands. Lisbeth turned and ran down the corridor but not before coming across several more of Drake’s guards. She heard Eddie’s cry of warning, but she tuned him out as she felt Hybrid take over her body.

She made a small jump towards the wall, planting her feet there before propelling herself forward, twisting her body and landing good solid kicks to the soldiers that collapsed like bowling pins. A single strike was enough to take them out. She landed on her feet in a superhero landing position, before taking off down the hallway again.

She thought she heard Eddie sigh just as she took off. **_He knows that I can take care of myself, if only he could see how powerful we are when we’re working together._**

_Focus my love. Where was your friend’s office? He must have access to the rocket from his computer._

**_Oh, you’re talking about my hacker friend Raze? Good thinking Hybrid. If I’m not mistaken, his office should be up around the corner and he should still have his hacker program still installed in his computer._ **

She rounded the corner and, thank god, the office was still there and no one was there. She dashed inside, locking the door behind her so no one could get through. Thankfully his office was located where she could see the launch through a nearby window.

As far as she could see, nothing had been done to the rocket. She quickly logged into the computer and into the Webster’s Serpent Program.

It took her a few minutes to access the path program to the Life Foundation and to locate the launch programs. Unfortunately, no matter which code she tried or what program she used, the launch countdown was still ticking down. “Shit,” snarled Lisbeth, slamming her hand down on the desk, a large crack forming in the desk from where her hand struck. “The program’s not responding. Someone must have initiated and there’s no way of shutting it down without the code. Unfortunately, the code’s not been installed into the system.”

She lowered her head in defeat. So much for being a hacker. She felt a tendril wrap around her shoulders. _It’s okay my love,_ said Hybrid. _Let’s go help Eddie. He might need us._

**_Ok let’s go._ **

She looked up in time to see Riot smash through the glass windows next to them. Thankfully Lisbeth ducked out of the way as the glass windows that she had been stared out of moments before, suddenly shattered. _Are you alright my love?_

            “I’m fine,” said Lisbeth, being careful not to cut herself on the glass shards that littered the floor. She got up from the floor to find Riot leaping down towards the rocket. “Hybrid, we can take this guy, right?”

            _This guy’s got shit you have never seen._

_**Considering the stuff that I’ve been through, I don’t think there’s anything I haven’t seen.**_

_Trust me my love, he’s not one to be messed with._

_**I can see why he chose Drake as his host. Those two got a lot in common. But what are our chances?**_

_Pretty much in the single digits. I would say zero, but we might stand a chance of beating him considering our strengths we share._

            Lisbeth hesitated, running the numbers through her mind before she finally said, “Let’s go save the planet.”

            She both felt and sensed Hybrid smile. _I knew you were going to say that. Wait, what the hell’s going on down there?_

Lisbeth looked up and saw two dark shapes near the rocket. It was hard to make out at first, but thankfully with Hybrid’s help, her eyes were enhanced enough to see what was going on. Venom and Riot were fighting – and Venom was getting hurt.

**_Let’s go Hybrid._ **

She felt the warm trickling sensation take over her body and the next thing she knew, Hybrid was standing there. “T minus five minutes.” That was less time than before. Where had the time gone? Did Drake somehow accelerate the time to make the launch take off sooner? That’s what must have happened.

            Hybrid jumped onto the metal supports of the platform over the water, although they moved carefully, not wanting to give away their position so soon. They were less than twenty feet away when Hybrid froze in their tracks. Riot had somehow managed to rip the symbiote completely off of Eddie and that Riot was holding the struggling host-less symbiote in its claws.

            The sight of that instantly set off something inside of her. She felt her mind disconnect as her body react all on its own. She felt her body fly in slow motion, her hand above her head as she felt it sharpen into long claws before time speed up again. Riot looked up in time to see her coming but was too slow to react; she brought her arm down, slashing a deep wound into his chest. They felt one of her tendrils grab Venom from Riot’s hand all the while that this was happening and flinging him back towards Eddie.

            Once they was sure that Venom was out of Riot’s hands, Hybrid raised their other hand and slashed another deep wound into his chest. Riot let out a terrible scream, taking several steps away to protect himself. Hybrid crouch low, teeth bared as though expecting him to attack them again.

            Riot looked up before a look of shock came over his features. **“Hybrid?”** “ _Guess you’re not as stupid as you look Riot,”_ snarled Hybrid. _“Or should I say Drake.”_

            It took a minute for Riot to process this, before he realize who was bonded with Hybrid. **“Well, well the weakest of our species has found himself a host. A shame considering that she belongs with my host.”**

            Hybrid’s tendrils straightened out, like an angry dog as a menacing growl escaped Hybrid’s throat. The sound of it shook Lisbeth to her core, but at the same time, she felt comforted. Her symbiote was there to protect her, and judging from the sounds that she heard, there was more than one. Venom must have let out the same cry as Hybrid did.

            “ _She was never yours,”_ snarled Hybrid. _“She was marked by me before you ever showed up and now she’s been marked by Venom as well. Your human host holds no claim against her.”_ Hybrid felt Venom’s hand on her arm, which sent a tingling sensation up her arm.

            **“You fool! You damned arrogant fool! This is not who we are! We take control and we claim what’s ours! Not bond with our hosts! I’m only going to say this one last time, get in the rocket or I will destroy you both!”**

In answer, both symbiotes rebelled. “ _No, we won’t let you destroy this world Riot.”_

Riot let out a snarl. **“Your time has come Venom and Hybird. Any last words?”**

_“Screw you Drake!”_ shrieked Hybrid in Lisbeth voice.

“ **YOU’RE GONNA PAY FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO MY HOST AND OUR PARTNER,”** snarled Venom.

**“Then you both can die together!”**

Riot’s arm began to morph into something else as he rushed towards both Venom and Venom. Venom and Hybrid dodged out of the way just as Riot slammed a blade shape down them. Venom launched himself at Riot at the same time as Hybrid ducked behind Riot, wrapping her tendrils around his arms. Riot tried to pull at Hybrid’s restraints but was distracted at Venom lashing out at Riot, his claws cutting through them both so they could see both Riot and Drake.

            Then without warning, Hybrid felt a stab of pain before an excruciating pain as she felt her body being pierced by several of Riot’s spikes. Hybrid let out a cry of pain as they fell backwards, landing painfully on her back. “ **HYBRID!** ” Venom’s voice cried.

            Suddenly there was a loud screeching noise that reached their ears, it just felt like before with the MRI at the hospital. Hybrid raised their hands and placed it over her ears in an effort to drown out the noise as they raised their head to see Venom, who like Hybrid, had his hands over his head as the sound was driving him to his knees. It wasn’t the sight of Venom that drove them back to their feet, but the figure of Riot standing over Venom, a blade-like arm although his body was shaking as though trying to resist the sound. It only took a second for Hybrid to figure out what Riot was planning on doing.

_“NO!”_

            With a strangled cry, Hybrid leapt forward and pushing Riot off of the platform. Hybrid felt Venom’s hand wrap around their waist but Riot’s weight was too much for the both of them and they went tumbling down.

            They slammed into the platform at the base of the spacecraft, the three symbiotes separated from their hosts. Lisbeth felt Hybrid separate her for the second time that night as her body same into the metal platform that knocked the wind out of her. A sharp pain went up her back, but with all the adrenaline that was going through her system, she hardly felt the pain. She jumped to her feet where she went to attack Drake, who was back in his human form. _Now for the ass-kicking I’ve wanted to give him since day one._

Drake launched himself at her, but Lisbeth dodged out of the way. She lashed out a kick that landed on his side. She stepped forward and struck out with her fist, landing in his head. Drake let out a shriek, lashing out his arm to try and drive her back, but Lisbeth seized his arm, twisting it so his arm was now twisted into his back.

            There was a loud sickening snap as Drake’s arm broke. He let out a scream of pain as he collapse to the ground, clutching his broken arm. Lisbeth managed to land a few more kicks, causing Drake to roll over onto his back. She could see him trying to get up, but Lisbeth placed a foot on his chest hard enough for him to gasp in pain. He looked up at her. “When the rocket launches,” said Lisbeth. “You will have my permission to die then.”

An evil smile stretching his features. “Well Lisbeth,” he said. “What are you going to do now? Kill me? I can see it in your eyes, I know you want to.” Lisbeth hesitated.

She had always pictured her getting her revenge, a dozen options, stabbing him in the back with a knife, putting a bullet through his head, tossing him into the water with his legs attached to a boulder, Hybrid slashing his throat, Hybrid trying to attach himself to him but ended up killing him.

There were so many posibilites, but now that she was here, she wasn’t quite sure of what to do.

 But she knew that Eddie would have dropped of the evidence with his trusted contacts at the newspaper and the truth would be exposed about him within the next few hours.

            After everything he did to her, all those people that he hurt, did he really deserve to live after all the wrong he did?

            Instead, Lisbeth took a few steps back from the insane man. “I won’t kill you,” she said in a low voice. “That would be too easy. In a few hours the truth about you will be exposed. You deserve to rot in jail. Not just for me, but for everyone you hurt and the ones that you killed. Especially our symbiotes and for Eddie.”

            She made to turn before she remembered something. She turned back to Drake, before she lashed out a kick to his side. “That’s for me.” Another kick. “That’s for Hybrid.” Third kicks. “That’s for Eddie.” Fourth kick. “That’s for Venom.” Fifth kick. “That’s for Dora.” She would have continued on, but when she heard the loud crack from his ribs did she stop.

She then turned and, with a power kick that would have put a karate sensi to shame, kicked him in the crotch.

            She turned to help Edie to his feet. “You okay?” she asked. “I’m fine,” he said. Lisbeth smiled. “I’m glad.”

            “Him?” came Drake’s voice, although it was strained with pain. “You’re still going to pick him over me? After everything that I did for you?” Lisbeth turned around, feeling Eddie’s hands on her hips. “Did you not hear anything that Hybrid said while we were bonded?” asked Lisbeth. “Hybrid had marked me before you did anything to me. Now I’ve been marked by another symbiote and been with someone who has made me feel like I’m actually worth something, instead of a possession that he can use and abuse at any time.” Eddie shook his head. “I don’t see what she ever saw in you before considering you’re a criminal,” he said in a disgusted tone.

            Their comments didn’t seem to affect the insane man, who seemed to be moving closer to the edge of the platform. The couple approached him. “You’re both too late,” he said. “This is the beg-“

CRUNCH!

WHACK!

            Both Eddie and Lisbeth stuck out a foot and kicked him in the face, Lisbeth’s landing a kick to his jaw as Eddie’s landed on his nose, which cracked under his weight. Drake fell off the platform. “You talk too much,” said Eddie. Lisbeth grabbed his hand. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go.”

            The couple took off towards the platform that would take them back to the building. They had barely had taken more than a few steps when –

SLASH!

            Lisbeth felt a large object spear her body. She looked over to see that Eddie – had been speared by one of Riot’s large spears. She tried to summon the energy to shout his name, but it was as if all the air in her lungs had vanished. She looked down and saw – a large metal looking spike embedded in her chest.

            Through the thick fog that was starting to slow down her brain, she could hear monstrous footsteps as Riot made his way over to them. **“You both are nothing,”** he said before vanishing, retreating towards his rocket. She could feel her breathing begin to slow down, but just before her mind was taken over by the blackness, she felt her hands reach, one towards Eddie and one towards the empty air above her head, where she hoped that Hybrid would be.

_Eddie._

_Hybrid._

            Then the blackness took over.

 

 

 

            It felt like an eternity before Hybrid made his way towards Lisbeth’s outstretched hand. He silently prayed that he could bring her back; he couldn’t afford to lose a host like her. The two of them had such a connection between them that it felt like no other. Part of him knew that it would be harder to bring a dead person back to life, but he knew that he had to try.

            Hybrid looked up to find Venom making his way towards Eddie’s body too, probably trying to do the same thing as he was. Hybrid crawled up Jane’s arm and into her chest. Thankfully they were able to jumpstarted Lisbeth’s heart and forced the newly-repaired organs to pump through their veins and her lungs begin to breathe on their own. Hybrid felt a sigh of relief leave him as he felt Lisbeth open her eyes. He could sense her emotions, she was scared and confused. He gently caressed her with one of his tendrils. _“It’s okay my love, there’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m here.”_ He felt her calm down as well as understand what he was doing as he covered her body completely and taking over.

            Hybrid and Venom stood up, ripping the blades out of their chest before releasing horrid screams of fury towards the sky. Hybrid knew that like Venom, he was not going to let Riot get away, especially after nearly killing their hosts.

            The symbiotes shot up the side of the metal support beams next to the rockets before they vaulted off, crashing into the rocket. Venom and Hybrid could see Riot through the window, a wide grin on their faces.

**“Traitors!”**

“ ** _Have a nice life dumbass!”_** Hybrid then released their grip before diving towards the water. A few seconds later, she heard Venom release his grip, before the loud sound of piercing metal filled the air along with a wall of fire. The loud smack of water hurt when they reached it, although it was a temporary as the pain vanished a few seconds later. Hybrid didn’t surface yet, only diving deeper into the water as he needed to protect himself from what was about to come next.

            Suddenly the surface above the water exposed with fire. Hybrid stared wide-eyed at what has happening, a large object, probably the spacecraft, crashed into the water. Hybrid felt the water churn as the rocket crashed into the water, but the waters weren’t that powerful to sway him from where he swam. Hybrid was just about to swim to the surface when the surface broke and was almost crashed into by Eddie.

            Hybrid swam up and, at the same time, grabbing Eddie and pulling him towards the surface. The moment their heads broke the surface, Hybrid pulled them towards shore, although a little more slowly so as not to hurt Eddie. “ _Are you okay?_ ” asked Hybrid. “I’m fine,” said Eddie, shaking slightly. “Although Venom-“

            Hybrid’s head shot up at the mention of Venom’s name. “ _What happened with Venom Eddie?”_ asked Hybrid. “He- I don’t know. I think he was trying to protect me from the blast,” Eddie tried to explain, although Hybrid could see tears forming in Eddie’s eyes.

Before Eddie could continue, Hybrid pulled Eddie into a hug. “I’m so sorry Eddie,” Hybrid said in Lisbeth’s voice. They weren’t sure how long they remained like that, but it wasn’t long before the sounds of the police sirens brought them to their senses. _“We should go,”_ said Hybrid.


	11. Relief and Recovery

Chapter 10

 

            It was a little after three in the morning when Eddie and Hybrid got back to the apartment. The marble island had been repaired while they were out of the apartment and the broken marble had been cleaned up.

Once they were safely inside, Hybrid melted away to revel Lisbeth underneath. She winced a little when she let go of Eddie, her ribs were hurting her. She let out a sharp exhale of breath.

            She felt Eddie’s arm wrap around her as he carefully led her to the bedroom. Carefully, he helped her sit on the edge of the mattress before he knelt in front of her, her hands in his own. “You okay?” he asked. “I’m fine,” she said. “I’m just tired. And wet.” His hand raised a hand to cup the side of her face, Lisbeth leaned into it, closing her eyes.  

            “Lisbeth,” he said. “How come you didn’t –kill Drake while you were on the platform? I mean you had the chance there and you didn’t take it. Why not? I mean after everything you’ve been through, I thought you would have.”

            “Because he wasn’t worth it,” said Lisbeth. “I thought I wanted to, but when I was face to face with that situation, I knew in my heart that the decision wasn’t right. I mean killing him wasn’t going to fix things, he still took a part of me that I can’t get back and a part of me died that night. I don’t think I’ll ever get back to being the person that I was before.”

            Lisbeth felt tears come to her eyes, but she blinked them away. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “The bastard got what he deserved in the end. He’s dead.” The hand that was still gripping hers tightened a little. She looked up in time to see a dark look pass over Eddie’s features, but in the back of her mind, if Eddie still had Venom, he would have probably would have taken over. “Eddie,” she said, reaching out and placing a hand on her cheek. The dark look suddenly vanished. “Sorry,” he apologized. “We- I was worried.” He leaned in and gently pressed a kiss to her lips.

            It was only when she felt Eddie’s hands touch the sore spots on her body did Eddie stop. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t realize-“

            “No, it’s fine,” said Lisbeth. “I didn’t realize how sore I was now that the adrenaline has gone down. I think we might have to hold off on any physical contact for a bit. Right now, I feel like I went into a cage fight with an MMA fighter with my hands tied behind my back.”

            Eddie laughed. He helped her up. “Why don’t you get changed?” he suggested. Too tired to argue, Lisbeth nodded and slowly made her way to the bathroom. She closed the bathroom door behind her to give her some privacy. She placed her hands on the counter and bowed her head. She felt drained and exhausted, every part of her ached, although the pain was becoming less noticeable as Hybrid worked to heal her sore body. 

            Her clothes were wet, and she didn’t feel much like changing so she removed the clothing with some difficultly before she was able to remove the last little bit of clothing and drying her skin with a warm towel. She wrapped the towel around her in an effort to keep herself warm while she washed her face before examining her face in the mirror.

            There was a long scrap along her right cheek and a cut along her lip but other than that her face was unharmed. The rest of her was bruised black and blue on her arms, legs and of what little she could see of her torso. **_I definitely looked like I went ten rounds with an MMA fighter._**

_Why don’t you go rest now? I’ll heal you while you’re asleep. I’ll heal Eddie afterwards. You both should be feeling better by tomorrow morning. Well, a few hours from now._

_**Alright, I’m not going to argue with anyone right now. I’m too tired to even think right now.**_

She rubbed her eyes before she dragged herself out of the bathroom and onto the bed, discarding the towel before she climbed into bed. Eddie was in bed, although he too had removed his wet clothing and was slowly dropping off. Lisbeth snuggled close to him, although she was being careful as not to lay on any of the sore spots. It wasn’t very long before she passed out.

 

 

            She didn’t know how long she had slept for but at first, she became aware of what sounded like a loud purring sound. “Hybrid you’re purring in your sleep again,” she muttered sleepily. 

_It’s not me my love, I’m not doing that._

Lisbeth suddenly became a little more alert, if Hybrid was back in her body, then who or what was making the purring sound? She opened her eyes to find a large, firm body nestled against her side. At first, she was confused, but it was only when she looked up and saw the blank staring eyes and the mouthful of sharp teeth did she react.

“Gah!”

            She felt her body jerk back, but it almost fell out of bed, but thankfully Venom reached out and caught her with his large taloned hand before pulling her back into the bed. “Are you trying to kill me?” she asked, laughing a little. “ **SORRY, NEVER MEANT TO SCARE YOU MORSEL.”**

            “It’s okay,” said Lisbeth, sitting up to look at him. “Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting –“ She looked up at him. “But how did you survive the blast? Eddie said you burned up trying to protect him from the rocket.” Venom didn’t say anything. “ **I’M NOT REALLY SURE HOW WE SURVIVED, BUT I’M JUST GLAD THAT WE SURVIVED AND WE’RE HERE. I GUESS IT WASN’T OUR TIME YET.** ”

            Lisbeth smiled as she felt Venom run a talon up and down her arm. “Does Eddie know you’re alive?”

            “ **NOT YET, BUT HE WILL KNOW SOON ENOUGH.”**

Lisbeth nodded. **“HOW ARE YOU FEELING?”**

“To be honest, I’ve felt better. I’ve felt like I got into a fight with a tiger.”

**“YOU WERE EVERY BRAVE,”** Venom said. **“WE WERE IMPRESSED BY THE STRENGTH THAT YOU AND HYBRID SHOWED. YOU GUYS SHOWED US THAT YOU’RE STRONGER THAN YOU GIVE YOURSELVES CREDIT FOR. EVEN WALKING AWAY FROM KILLING A BAD MAN THAT HARMED YOU. THAT SHOWS US THAT IT’S NOT IN YOUR NATURE TO KILL PEOPLE.”**

Lisbeth smiled. “Thank you,” she said. She felt his large hands on her cheeks before he placed his forehead against hers, purring deeply. **“IT’LL BE ALRIGHT NOW LITTLE ONE. WE’LL TAKE CARE OF YOU NOW. NO ONE WILL EVER COME BETWEEN US.”** Venom then leaned down and captured her lips in a searing kiss.

Just like at the Life Foundation, Venom’s kiss was more hungry and aggressive than Eddie’s kiss had been. She felt his tongue curl around hers, but not too much to overwhelm her. She felt her arms reach up and wrap around his neck. When she felt him pull away, she felt disheartened but it didn’t last very long. He lowered his face to nuzzle her neck, shivering slightly when she felt his fangs graze her neck. “Venom-“

“ **SORRY. WE WANT TO SMELL OURSELVES ON YOU AGAIN,”** he said, licking the column of her throat. **“DON’T LIKE IT WHEN YOU DON’T SMELL LIKE US. ALTHOUGH I DO HAVE TO KEEP IN MIND THAT YOU HAVE HYBRID’S SMELL ON YOU TO. NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT THAT PART.”**

“I don’t mind,” she said. “I mean just as long as you don’t give me marks that make people wonder what if I got bit by a wild animal.”

“ **OURS AND ONLY OURS,”** was his answer. But he didn’t push Lisbeth, he didn’t do anything else besides nuzzling and pressing kisses along on her throat and shoulder. **“MMM, BETTER,”** he said as he licked her cheek. He froze as though he had become a sculpture.

**“EDDIE’S AWAKE,”** he said. Venom vanished, to be replaced by Eddie, who was wearing a pair of jogging pants and a T-shirt. “Well that was an interesting way to way up,” he said. “Tell me about it,” said Lisbeth. “He damn near scared me out of bed. At first, I thought it was Hybrid, but when I found out that Hybrid was back in my body, part of me knew it was Venom. I got to say I’m just happy that he’s still alive.”

“Me too,” said Eddie. He glanced over her. “You look better,” he said, running a hand over her arm. “You’re not as black and blue as you were last night.”

“I feel much better,” said Lisbeth. “I’m not as sore as I was last night.” She made to move closer to him when she winced. “Scratch that, my ribs are still sore. I don’t think I’ll be able to move around as much as I would like to.” She looked up at him. “How are you feeling?”

“To be honest, I feel a lot better than I have in months,” said Eddie. A cocky smile stretched his features as his fingers traced up and down her arm. “I have a feeling I know where this is going,” said Lisbeth, a smile stretching her face. He leaned forward and kissed her, slowly at first, before the heat and passion grew. She felt him push her forward gently so that he was laying on top of her.

Before it could go any further, Eddie’s phone rang. “Sorry,” he said, reaching up to grab his phone. He glanced at the caller id before his eyes widened. “It’s work. I got to take this.”

He jumped out of bed, answering the phone call and walking out of the room. It was a minute or two before he came back. He looked like he was about to pass out. Lisbeth sat up quickly. “Eddie are you okay?” asked Lisbeth, her voice worried with concern.

“I’m fine it’s just,” he laughed. “They want me to come in to do a piece on the Life Foundation.”

“Eddie that’s fantastic!” exclaimed Lisbeth. She would have jumped up and hugged him, although her ribs were seriously objecting to her. He approached her and hugged her. “I know,” he said. “But I need to leave right away. I’ll be back later tonight.” He hesitated before he leaned in and kissed her. “I love you.”

“I love you too Eddie,” she said, smiling.

 

 

            It was a long day with nothing to do, Lisbeth could hardly move in bed without her ribs hurting although Hybrid was doing his best to try and help with the pain. _Broken bones are a little bit outside of my control to heal,_ Hybrid said. _But from what I can tell you’ve got bruised ribs as well as a few cracks which is causing you the pain. If they had been actual broken bones, I wouldn’t be able to help you. If I remember correctly, broken ribs take about a month to heal._

            **_So, bedrest and pain medication then?_**

_That would be the best remedy._

**_I think I got a full bottle of Tylenol somewhere in the bathroom, I’ll just have to be mindful of how I move._ **

She felt her stomach rumble. **_I think I better get something to eat, I’m so hungry I could eat a horse._**

_Tell me about it. I’m hungry too. All that healing and fun from last night made me famished._

She reached down and was able to put on an oversized shirt from the floor and, with some difficulty, she put it on. She didn’t feel like walking around the apartment in the nude.

From there, Lisbeth made her way to the kitchen to fix herself something to eat, although it was hard with her sore ribs. She took some Tylenol while she was waiting for her food to cook. By the time she had finished, she felt too tired to do anything else, so she went back to bed where she passed out the moment her head the pillow.

           

           

            She wasn’t sure how much time had passed but she felt her ears prick up when she heard the bedroom door open. She heard a smirk before she heard Eddie’s voice say, “Still asleep I see.” She heard the footsteps approach the bed before she felt the mattress descend a few inches under the new weight before she felt his warm body stop beside hers. She felt his hand run down her face, where she felt a moan escape from her dry throat.  

            His body leaned down to kiss her lightly on the cheek, gradually moving towards her lips to peck them lightly. She felt her lips pull into a small smile as her arms wrapped around his neck. “Hey you,” she said. “How did the interview go?”

            “Oh it went fantastic,” said Eddie, smiling widely as though Christmas had come early. “They were impressed with the evidence I gave them on that USB drive and they re-hired me. I’ve got an exclusive interview in a few days.”

            “Ohh, sounds interesting,” said Lisbeth. “Who’s it with?”

            “I’m not saying,” said Eddie in a teasing tone. He kissed her nose. “Just going to have to wait.”

            “Tease,” she giggled. “So, did you name me as a source? With my hacker name I mean.”

            “I did but I just named you as ‘my good friend Lisbeth Sullivan’.”

“Nice. That’s amazing to hear.”

His fingers traced her face. “I owe it all to you babe.”

She smiled, placing a hand on his cheek. “So, are we going to continue where we left off from this morning?” He smiled. “I think you’ve been patient enough and you did help me get my job back.” He grinned at her before he leaned back down and kissed her, letting the night close over them.


End file.
